Newsletter: May 2005  

Byrd Amendment  

Japan and Mexico look set to follow the lead of the EU in Canada and introduce import duties on US goods including clothing, after the US Congress refused to abolish The Byrd Amendment.

The Byrd Amendment was launched in 2000 as a method of compensating US businesses damaged by dumping of cheap imports. The tariffs it imposes on exporting nations are designed to push up prices of dumped goods to market prices, and subsequently protect US companies from cheap imports.

Japan, the country most economically influenced by the legislation, is allowed to bring customs duties of JPY125 billion ($116 million) against the US. The nation has not yet decided when to launch the duties and that says that it depends on Congress’s stance on repealing the Amendment.  

Mexico, meanwhile, is still considering which products to target. The EU, Canada, Brazil, Japan, India, South Korea, Chile and Mexico have all been granted the right to strike back against the law.

The EU and Canada will impose an extra 15% duty on $40m worth of US goods with effect from 1 May 2005. The EU has so far levied its tariff on a range of clothing types as well as various paper goods, while Canada has imposed tariffs on cigarettes, oysters, live hogs and several types of fish.

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