US initiates Section 201 investigation --

摘要

On June 5 President Bush asked the International Trade Commission (ITC) to investigate whether imports are damaging the US steel industry, using his powers under Section 201 of the 1974 Trade Act. The duration of any anti-import measures imposed following the investigation will be limited to three years.In his announcement the President set out the traditional "unfair foreigners" line of the US steel industry. According to this, cheap imports are not a sign fan competition from efficient foreign rivals but are dumped surpluses that have resulted from excess capacity elsewhere in the world, maintained, or at least established by government subsidies. There have been constant complaints from the US steel industry that since most governments wrote off past loans when they privatised old state-owned steel companies, the successor companies effectively obtained productive assets at subsidised prices. US steelmakers conclude that imports from these producers are still subsidized and should therefore carry a countervailing duty equivalent to effect of the putative subsidy.