WASHINGTON Legislation offers towns help when imports hurt

If the United States does not amend the law, it could face retaliatory tariffs on its exports.
By RAY HAFNER
STATES NEWS SERVICE
WASHINGTON -- In what could be a boon to communities where local industries have been devastated by cheap foreign competition, Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, introduced legislation to the Senate that would alter the way money raised from tariffs on "dumped" goods is distributed.
The bill, if passed, would take tariff money that is normally given directly to companies hurt by cheap imports and give it instead to communities that meet certain criteria. It would also bring the United States in line with international commitments in the World Trade Organization.
The law
Under current law, a company that believes it is hurt by foreign goods sold below market value, called dumping in the trade industry, may petition the government to impose tariffs on those goods.
Part of the law, known as the Byrd Amendment after Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., allows the same companies who pushed for the tariffs to receive part of the money raised.
Three Maine companies currently receive Byrd Amendment funds, said Snowe communications director Elizabeth B. Wenk. Those three -- Heritage Salmon, Gates Rubber Co. and Maine Coast Nordic -- would lose their Byrd Amendment funds, but the communities where those companies operate would gain, Wenk said.
"The intent is not to hurt the companies but to help the communities," she said. "We have a lot of downtrodden industries right now."
Critics claim this encourages U.S. companies to support trade cases, and in January 2003 the WTO ruled this section in violation of antidumping agreements.
If the United States does not amend the law, it could face retaliatory tariffs on its exports.
Communities assessed, certified
Under Snowe's plan, communities that file for assistance would be assessed by the Department of Commerce to determine the degree to which the community had been negatively affected by trade. If a community is certified eligible for Trade Adjustment Assistance, then the city or economic development groups could request money from the tariffs to be used to promote economic growth. In Maine alone, there are more than 50 communities that qualify, Snowe said.
"In small towns, where the livelihood of the local economy can often depend on one industry, one plant, or one company that is suffering under trade liberalization, a community can be devastated when that steel mill, paper mill or textile mill shuts down," she said.
Her plan met with praise from importers, who are hurt by the tariffs, because it takes away the incentive for U.S. companies to petition new tariffs.
"Companies that file trade cases year after year receive large sums of money at the expense of their customers -- there shouldn' t be an incentive for petitioning the U.S. government," said Janet Kopenhaver, executive director of the Consuming Industries Trade Action Coalition. "We are pleased that this bill works to break the link and end disbursement to specific companies."