*EPF310 05/08/2002
House of Representatives Upholds Temporary Steel Tariffs
(Republican leadership accused of choking off debate) (430)

By Andrzej Zwaniecki
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- The House of Representatives overwhelmingly blocked an attempt to overturn temporary tariffs on U.S. steel imports and replace them with less restrictive measures.

The House voted 386-30 to accept a rule that automatically discarded a resolution to disapprove the President Bush's March 5 decision imposing protective duties, thus avoiding a direct vote on the measure itself.

William Jefferson, Democrat from Louisiana, who introduced the resolution, charged that by blocking a full floor debate the House Republican leadership proved that it was insincere on trade issues.

"What they're doing, no matter how they cover it up, is they're voting a protectionist line," Jefferson said.

Even some supporters of the new tariffs objected to the handling of the resolution. Representative James McGovern, Democrat from Massachusetts, called it a "procedural smokescreen" designed to confuse voters during an election year.

"The American people deserve to know who supports the president's action on the steel industry and who does not," he said.

Jefferson said that Bush's decision was "not justifiable on any economic ground" and was already hurting the port industry in his home state. He also has charged that the safeguard effectively increased taxes on U.S. consumers and antagonized key U.S. trading partners.

Major steel-producing countries have criticized Bush's decision and vowed to file a complaint with the World Trade Organization. Moreover, the European Union and Japan have threatened to retaliate against U.S. goods if they are not compensated for business losses resulting from the tariffs.

But lawmakers from the states with significant steel interests defended the remedy imposed under Section 201 of U.S. trade law to give the U.S. steel industry an opportunity to restructure by protecting it from cheap imports.

"Let our trading partners know we stand for fair trade," said Representative Phil English, a Republican from the steel-producing state of Pennsylvania.

The resolution aimed to replace tariffs of up to 30 percent imposed by Bush with duties no higher than 20 percent recommended by three of the six commissioners of the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC). A USITC investigation found that domestic producers had been hurt by a surge in steel imports.

The House Ways and Means Committee recommended April 24 that the full House reject the resolution. But because the measure enjoyed privileged status under the very law used by the President to impose the new tariffs, the House had to consider it anyway. Its disapproval leaves congressional opponents of the steel safeguard with no other option for altering it.

(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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