The Issue:
The European Union (EU) recently expanded retaliatory duties of 15 percent (on top of normal duties) on European imports of certain U.S.-made footwear, apparel and textile exports in connection with a dispute settlement case on the Byrd Amendment, which provided for distribution of anti-dumping and countervailing duties to trade remedy petitioners (U.S. manufacturers)—an action the WTO ruled was in violation of international trade agreements.  Although the Byrd Amendment was repealed in 2005, that repeal did not take effect until October 2007.  Because of the delayed repeal, the EU has successfully petitioned the WTO to keep retaliatory duties in place.  This situation is a perfect example of how an action that is supposedly meant to protect U.S. manufacturers (i.e. petitioners in an anti-dumping case) actually hurt U.S. manufacturers (i.e. the U.S. apparel, footwear and textile products manufacturers whose exports to Europe, their biggest export market, are now subject to sanctions in the form of 15 percent punitive duties).

AAFA on the Issue:
AAFA has been working to help remove members’ products from retaliation lists and supports legislation to remove the underlying trade disputes.

The Latest News:

1.20.09
Thanks to the of AAFA and others, US imports of rayon staple fibers from Europe were removed from the final retaliation list January 15 by the Office of the US Trade Representative.

12.06.08
AAFA comments December 8 to the US government opposing the inclusion of US imports of European polyester staple fiber (HTS 5404.10) in the United States' proposed retaliation list for the European Union's (EU) non-compliance with the rulings of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in the ongoing beef hormone case. If polyester staple fiber remains on the final US list, US imports of polyester staple fiber from Europe would be subject to a 100 percent punitive duty.

12.06.08
Many experts believe that the European Commission will soon unveil a list of US products that it will impose punitive duties on in retaliation for the United States' continued non-compliance with repeated rulings at the World Trade Organization (WTO) over the AAFA-opposed US practice of "zeroing." In an ironic twist, the European Commission will likely propose imposing punitive duties on European imports of many of the products made by the same US manufacturers who support the US practice of "zeroing." As seen in previous WTO cases (the Byrd Amendment and the Foreign Sales Corporations), the European Commission will likely include European imports US-made apparel and textiles on its retaliation list. If Europe implements the retaliation list, that means exports of US-made apparel and textiles to Europe (one of the largest export markets for US-made apparel and textiles) will be subject to punitive duties.

10.09.07
October 1 marked the end of the corporate welfare program called the Byrd Amendment. The Byrd Amendment, formally known as the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act of 2000 (CDSOA), funneled money collected from the imposition of antidumping (AD) and countervailing duties (CVD) from government coffers directly to companies that petitioned for those duties. This money -- amounting to billions of dollars over the past five years -- acted as a huge incentive for companies to bring antidumping and countervailing duty cases against US imports. In response to the law, the European Union (EU) took the United States to the World Trade Organization (WTO) due to the law's clear violation of global trading rules. The EU won the case, whereupon it imposed punitive duties of 15 percent on EU imports of US-made clothes and shoes, which remain in place to this day. While Congress finally overturned the Byrd Amendment at the beginning of 2006, the program's proponents successfully included a phase-out period for the law, which ended October 1.