4 Dem Legislators Express Concern with Proposal to Eliminate “Zeroing” in AD Admin Reviews
On November 28, 2011, a group of four Democratic Representatives and Senators1 sent a letter to the Secretary of Commerce and U.S. Trade Representative expressing their concerns with the International Trade Administration's December 2010 proposed rule to use non-zeroing methodology in antidumping duty reviews.
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(On December 29, 2010, the ITA published a proposed rule to normally use non-zeroing methodology in its calculation of the weighted average dumping margins and AD duty assessment rates in AD duty administrative, new shipper, and expedited reviews, in order to conform its practice to several World Trade Organization dispute settlement reports. See ITT's Online Archives 10122918 and [11013147] for BP summaries of the ITA's proposed rule and the ITA's extension of the comment period.)
Letter Calls for Reining in WTO, Prospective Implementation, Etc.
Specifically, the letter calls on the Administration to:
Rein in WTO Appellate Body overreaching. The signatories disagree fundamentally with the “zeroing” Appellate Body decision and state that such overreaching resulted in the adverse WTO zeroing decision as well as the recent case against the U.S. involving application of antidumping and countervailing duties to non-market economy cases (the so-called “double-counting” case).
Ensure implementation is prospective and resolves pending cases against the U.S. With this done, the Administration should turn to restoring the full scope of antidumping disciplines through negotiations with WTO partners.
Address all systemic concerns about the U.S. trade remedy system. There are numerous systemic concerns that have been raised for years by stakeholders regarding the effectiveness of the U.S. trade remedy system; these concerns should promptly be addressed.
1Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Levin (D-MI) and Trade Subcommittee Ranking Member McDermott (D-WA), along with Senators Schumer (D-NY) and Brown (D-OH)
Copy of press release and letter available by emailing documents@brokerpower.com.