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The MHEDA Journal regularly receives comments from our readers. In this Letters To The Editor section, we publish letters sent to us during the past quarter. Letters must be received with a name and contact information. Please let us know what you are thinking about your MHEDA publications. Send comments to Chris Powers at editor@TheMhedaJournal.org. Chinese Unfair Practices Hurt Wire Decking Manufacturers What the Chinese Government neglects to mention is that the actions by the wire decking manufacturers in filing trade cases, and the imposition of duties by the U.S. government, are fully consistent with the international trade agreements China and the United States signed. The international agreements expressly permit the im-position of these duties when unfairly traded imports injure U.S. manufacturers. In response to petitions filed by domestic wire decking manufacturers, the U.S. government preliminarily found that wire decking is being dumped, or sold at less than its fair value, in the U.S. market by huge margins ranging from 43 to 289 percent. The U.S. government also found that the Chinese government is providing illegal subsidies to Chinese wire decking producers. Final decisions in these cases are due in May. Similarly, in a preliminary decision, the U.S. International Trade Commission concluded that these unfair trade practices are injuring domestic wire decking manufacturers. The Commission found that the unfair imports from China significantly undercut U.S. prices and caused the domestic industry to suffer declines in production, shipments, employment and profits. In an already difficult year due to the nationwide recession, the increasing volumes of low-priced imports from China have decimated U.S. wire decking manufacturing operations and cost many workers their jobs. Moreover, the Chinese Government fails to mention the widespread practice by many Chinese industries of illegally circumventing the trade orders. Chinese exporters advertise to U.S. customers their willingness to transship merchandise or mislabel the country of origin of the product to evade the duties lawfully imposed. So while China may “decry” these duties, it cannot argue that the imposition of the duties is unwarranted or unlawful. In fact, the duties imposed are not punitive at all, but are merely intended to offset the amount of the unfair trading practices and to level the playing field for U.S. manufacturers. Enforcement of U.S. trade laws to protect domestic manufacturers and their employees from unfair trading practices is expressly recognized as lawful internationally and should not strain relations between countries. The Chinese government should be concerned with living up to its own trade obligations by ceasing illegal subsidies and cracking down on scofflaws who seek to circumvent U.S. trade orders — Kathleen W. Cannon
(Editor's Note: This letter came to us via Steve Johnson, vice president of sales at Nashville Wire Products and a member of MHEDA's Manufacturers Board of Advisors, in response to an item titled “China Decries Dumping Duties” in the February 1 issue of The MHEDA Connection, MHEDA's e-newsletter. Please direct comments to editor@TheMhedaJournal.org.) |
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