The U.S. government uses such laws to penalize foreign firms that sell goods on the U.S. market at prices with which U.S. companies cannot compete. Tariffs, or import taxes, are then slapped on the goods, increasing their retail price.

Under the Byrd Amendment Washington funnels the tariff income to the U.S. companies that file anti-dumping suits, giving them a further competitive edge. Since the law’s passage, these companies have benefited from the government subsidy to the tune of $710 million. The prime beneficiaries have been giant corporations including Micron, the world’s second-largest producer of computer memory chips, the ball-bearing producer Timken, and U.S. Steel.

Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry defended this cash cow for U.S. industrialists, charging that the Bush administration had “failed to stand up for American companies and workers at the WTO.” The White House has not announced if it will seek to repeal the Byrd Amendment.

The WTO ruling allows the governments of EU member states, as well as those of Brazil, Canada, Japan, Chile, India, south Korea, and Mexico, to impose retaliatory duties on U.S. goods of up to 72 percent of the tariffs collected under the Byrd Amendment.

Tokyo announced it could potentially hike tariffs on U.S. imports by $78 million annually to protect Japanese exporters, who were the hardest hit by the U.S. measure. An EU spokesman said the European trade bloc could levy tariffs of “more than 150 million euros” ($180 million).

None of the governments involved in the suit, however, seem eager to hit Washington back with the retaliatory duties. Officials of the European Union and Tokyo said they will wait to see if Washington repeals the law before imposing the WTO-approved sanctions “as early as this autumn.” A representative of the other imperialist power involved in the suit, Canada, says Ottawa would hold “public consultations” before deciding to invoke the retaliatory sanctions.

The semicolonial countries affected by the law are in the weakest position to respond to U.S. imperialism’s protectionist assaults. A spokesman for the Chilean government said the foreign ministry is not yet ready to announce plans to hike tariffs on U.S. goods. Salmon, grapes, and raspberries are among the goods from Chile that Washington has slapped with tariffs.
 
 
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