*EPF509 10/18/2002
USITC Rules Imports of Chinese Actuators Disrupt U.S. Market
(President Bush to make final decision on potential remedy) (300)

Washington -- The U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) has determined that imports of pedestal actuators from China are causing market disruptions affecting U.S. producers. The agency will report to President Bush and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick by November 7 on potential remedies under which domestic producers can obtain relief.

Pedestal actuators are electromechanical devices used for moving objects.

The USITC voted 3-2 to make an affirmative determination in the case, which is the first to be filed under Section 421 of U.S. trade law. The section was added by the U.S.-China Relations Act of 2000, which implemented the bilateral agreement relating to China's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO).

The "transitional bilateral safeguard" provision of the agreement allows U.S. domestic producers to obtain relief if USITC finds that Chinese products are being imported into the United States in such increased quantities or under such conditions as to cause or threaten to cause market disruption to the domestic producers of like or directly competitive products.

According to the statute, market disruption "exists whenever imports of an article like or directly competitive with an article produced by a domestic industry are increasing rapidly, either absolutely or relatively, so as to be a significant cause of material injury, or threat of material injury, to the domestic industry."

President Bush will make the final decision concerning whether to provide relief to U.S. producers of pedestal actuators and the type and duration of any such relief.

Section 421 is similar to Section 406, a provision of U.S. trade law aimed against market disruption by imports from communist and former communist countries. Congress intended Section 406 to serve in place of traditional remedies for unfair trade practices, which might not suffice for a sudden, rapid influx of goods from countries where the government controls prices and distribution. Section 406 no longer applies to China since it acceded to the WTO.

(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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