Taming the US
the World Trade Organization (wto) has approved sanctions against the us for subsidising its domestic industries, using the funds collected as anti-dumping duties. Following the decision, the eu and Japan have now said they will levy us $150 million worth of sanctions from early 2005 if the us subsidies continue. The wto also approved a long list of products that might face eu sanctions . The list includes textiles, machinery and food items.
The us subsidies are granted under the law that is nicknamed the "Byrd Amendment' after the senator who had proposed it. It primarily benefits manufacturing industries dealing with metals but also helps textile and food industries. According to the us customs service, the law earned the industries subsidies of us $200 million in 2000 and us $329 million in 2001, more than double the approved sanctions. The law was first ruled illegal by the wto in August 2002. Sanctions were approved in August 2004 but the formality of approval by the wto Dispute Settlement Body (dsb) was completed on November 26, 2004. India, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Mexico and South Korea are also parties to the dispute but they have not yet planned sanctions.
us president George Bush has also opposed the subsidies but their fate lies with usa's lawmakers. When Bush called for a repeal of the law in February 2004, a majority of us Senate members sent him a letter of disapproval. In 2003, a proposal to give collected import duties to workers instead of affected companies was withdrawn. The senator who tabled the proposal said the us should use the Byrd Amendment at the wto to extract concessions on other issues.
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