EU to Impose Additional Byrd Amendment Sanctions on U.S. Products
On May 1, 2007, the European Union will impose 15% duties on 32 additional U.S. products as a result of the U.S. failure to repeal the Byrd Amendment as required by the WTO. The products subject to the increased duty include several types of paper products, plastic furniture, a wide range of textile products, ball-point pens, footwear and mobile homes.
The new duties will increase the value of U.S. products subject to E.U. retaliation from US$ 36.91 million to US$ 81.19 million.
Although the Byrd Amendment was repealed by the U.S. Congress in early 2006, the repeal did not affect distribution of antidumping and countervailing duties collected on imports made before October 1, 2007. Because of the manner in which the U.S. levies antidumping and countervailing duties the Congressional Budget Office estimates that Byrd Amendment payments may continue until 2009.
The list of the 32 products subject to the increased duties can be found here (pdf).Labels: Customs