alicechauvin
2005-04-13 15:36:01 UTC
Chinese dodge crawfish tariffs
La. lawmakers fishing for answers
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
By Bruce Alpert
Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- Louisiana members of Congress are demanding an explanation
of why the federal government is collecting only a small fraction of the
anti-dumping duties imposed on Chinese producers of crawfish.
According to the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection's own report, the
agency collected in 2004 only 4.6 percent of duties owed by Chinese
crawfish distributors suspected of dumping underpriced tail meat in the
U.S. market.
Under what has become known as the Byrd amendment, the anti-dumping
tariffs are supposed to be distributed to the domestic producers whose
allegations of dumping -- distributing items at below cost to knock out
domestic competitors -- were found valid.
Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., who organized the delegation letter to the
Bureau of Customs and Border Protection, said the Louisiana members of
Congress want to get to the bottom of the agency's inability to collect
tariffs put in place to protect American fishers and businesses from
unfair foreign competition.
"Since being crippled by unfairly traded crawfish tail meat from China and
winning a trade suit before the International Trade Commission, our
industry has been waiting to collect the money owed to them under federal
law," Landrieu said.
James Hawkins, a spokesman for the Customs and Border Protection Bureau,
confirmed the Louisiana delegation's calculations that the agency
collected $25.5 million of the $195.5 million owed between 2002 and 2004.
But Hawkins said the bureau won't have a response to the delegation's
request for a detailed explanation of the difficulties collecting tariffs
until next week.
Informally, agency officials have said the failure to collect on most of
the tariffs is a result of a system that enables foreign crawfish
producers to change their corporate name and then ignore requests for
payment of tariffs.
A bill proposed by Rep. Chip Pickering, R-Miss., would require foreign
companies to post a cash deposit before shipping crawfish, catfish,
shrimp, garlic, mushrooms and furniture to the United States. Those
deposits would not be returned in cases where anti-dumping tariffs were
imposed.
Paul Nathanson, spokesman for the Consuming Industries Trade Action
Coalition, which generally opposes tariffs, said the pressure being
imposed on the custom's bureau by the Louisiana delegation is an example
of the problems with the Byrd amendment, named for Sen. Robert Byrd,
D-W.Va.
Companies are so eager to collect the tariffs, as required by the Byrd
amendment, that they pressure their members of Congress to intercede and
put pressure on agencies, such as the custom's bureau, which oversee
enforcement of U.S. trade laws. If penalties are to be imposed, Nathanson
said, the fines should go directly to the U.S. Treasury, not to individual
companies.
The Louisiana delegation letter was signed by Landrieu, Sen. David Vitter,
R-Metairie; Reps. Bobby Jindal, Rodney Alexander, Richard Baker and Jim
McCrery, all Republicans; and Democratic Reps. William Jefferson and
Charlie Melancon.
. . . . . .
Bruce Alpert can be reached at ***@newhouse.com or (202)
383-7861.
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Print This
La. lawmakers fishing for answers
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
By Bruce Alpert
Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- Louisiana members of Congress are demanding an explanation
of why the federal government is collecting only a small fraction of the
anti-dumping duties imposed on Chinese producers of crawfish.
According to the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection's own report, the
agency collected in 2004 only 4.6 percent of duties owed by Chinese
crawfish distributors suspected of dumping underpriced tail meat in the
U.S. market.
Under what has become known as the Byrd amendment, the anti-dumping
tariffs are supposed to be distributed to the domestic producers whose
allegations of dumping -- distributing items at below cost to knock out
domestic competitors -- were found valid.
Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., who organized the delegation letter to the
Bureau of Customs and Border Protection, said the Louisiana members of
Congress want to get to the bottom of the agency's inability to collect
tariffs put in place to protect American fishers and businesses from
unfair foreign competition.
"Since being crippled by unfairly traded crawfish tail meat from China and
winning a trade suit before the International Trade Commission, our
industry has been waiting to collect the money owed to them under federal
law," Landrieu said.
James Hawkins, a spokesman for the Customs and Border Protection Bureau,
confirmed the Louisiana delegation's calculations that the agency
collected $25.5 million of the $195.5 million owed between 2002 and 2004.
But Hawkins said the bureau won't have a response to the delegation's
request for a detailed explanation of the difficulties collecting tariffs
until next week.
Informally, agency officials have said the failure to collect on most of
the tariffs is a result of a system that enables foreign crawfish
producers to change their corporate name and then ignore requests for
payment of tariffs.
A bill proposed by Rep. Chip Pickering, R-Miss., would require foreign
companies to post a cash deposit before shipping crawfish, catfish,
shrimp, garlic, mushrooms and furniture to the United States. Those
deposits would not be returned in cases where anti-dumping tariffs were
imposed.
Paul Nathanson, spokesman for the Consuming Industries Trade Action
Coalition, which generally opposes tariffs, said the pressure being
imposed on the custom's bureau by the Louisiana delegation is an example
of the problems with the Byrd amendment, named for Sen. Robert Byrd,
D-W.Va.
Companies are so eager to collect the tariffs, as required by the Byrd
amendment, that they pressure their members of Congress to intercede and
put pressure on agencies, such as the custom's bureau, which oversee
enforcement of U.S. trade laws. If penalties are to be imposed, Nathanson
said, the fines should go directly to the U.S. Treasury, not to individual
companies.
The Louisiana delegation letter was signed by Landrieu, Sen. David Vitter,
R-Metairie; Reps. Bobby Jindal, Rodney Alexander, Richard Baker and Jim
McCrery, all Republicans; and Democratic Reps. William Jefferson and
Charlie Melancon.
. . . . . .
Bruce Alpert can be reached at ***@newhouse.com or (202)
383-7861.
E-mail This
Print This