Rep. Pascrell Backs Bipartisan Legislation that Protects American Manufacturing and Jobs

Press Release

U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ) today supported bipartisan legislation that protects American manufacturing and jobs by imposing countervailing duties on imports from countries that subsidize their production.

"We all know that China uses a variety of mercantilist ways to distort trade with the United States. We are not playing on a level playing field when they are allowed to subsidize thier industry," said Pascrell, a House Ways and Means Committee member. "This legislation will once again allow the application of our countervailing duty laws in the enforcement of existing orders to nonmarket economies like China. Let's not stop with the passage of this bill, but continue to move forward on a fair trade policy that places American workers and businesses first."

The legislation, H.R. 4105, amends the Tariff Act of 1930 regarding the imposition of countervailing duties on imports into the United States from a country subsidizing, directly or indirectly, the manufacture, production, or export of merchandise which materially injures a U.S. industry or threatens to.

It declares that merchandise on which countervailing duties must be imposed includes merchandise from a nonmarket country, unless the administering authority cannot identify and measure subsidies provided by the government of the nonmarket economy country (or a public entity within its territory) because the economy of that country is essentially composed of a single entity.

It also requires the administering authority to reduce the antidumping duty on a class or kind of merchandise from a nonmarket economy country in cases where: (1) such country (or a public entity within its territory) has provided the merchandise with a countervailable subsidy (other than an export subsidy); (2) the subsidy has reduced the average price of imports of that class or kind of merchandise during the relevant period; and (3) the extent to which the subsidy, in combination with the use of normal value, has increased the weighted average dumping margin for such merchandise can be reasonably estimated.

Finally, it requires the administering authority, in such cases, to reduce the antidumping duty by the amount of the increase in the weighted average dumping margin estimated (but not by more than the portion of the countervailing duty rate attributable to the countervailable subsidy).

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