CITAC PRAISES SENATOR GRASSLEY'S AMENDMENT TO HALT BYRD AMENDMENT PAYMENTS

Washington, DC — The Consuming Industries Trade Action Coalition (CITAC) today applauded Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R-IA) for introducing amendments to the Commerce Justice State Appropriations Bill (#1680, #1681 and #1685) to halt payments resulting from the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act (CDSOA), better known as the Byrd Amendment. Steve Alexander, CITAC Executive Director and President of lobbying firm The CMR Group, called Sen. Grassley's amendments a "very positive movement in the Byrd Amendment repeal effort in the Senate."

Senator Grassley introduced Amendment #1680 that would withhold Byrd Amendment distributions until the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) certifies that the payments are consistent with U.S. World Trade Organization (WTO) obligations. By so doing, the Grassley Amendment would forestall future retaliatory actions that harm U.S. exporters and U.S. consuming industries. Sen. Grassley's Amendments #1681 and 1685 strike language requiring the negotiation of a WTO settlement on the Byrd Amendment, which would essentially tie the hands of U.S. negotiators.

In 2002, the WTO ruled that the Byrd Amendment violates U.S. trade obligations and later authorized eight countries to retaliate based on the amount of Byrd Amendment distributions by the U.S. Mexico's recent imposition of duties because of the Byrd Amendment follows that of Japan, the European Union and Canada. Total retaliatory tariffs from these countries now amount to nearly $114 million and the risk of additional retaliation by our aggrieved trading partners is even more threatening.  The possibility of softwood lumber duties being distributed would put the United States in a position of absorbing nearly $5 billion in retaliation that could devastate American consuming industries.

"Sen. Grassley's amendments are an important step in both addressing the consequences that the Byrd Amendment is having on U.S. consuming industries and working to align U.S. trade policy with our WTO commitments," said Alexander. "American manufacturers, retailers and exporters are seriously harmed from the Byrd Amendment, and this special interest legislation allows a few American companies to be subsidized at the expense of others." He explained that more than half of the Byrd Amendment payments in 2004 went to only nine companies, and more than 80 percent of the payments went to only 44 companies.  

"This law is corporate welfare at its worse and serves no larger public purpose," said Alexander. "The Byrd Amendment distributes money without regard to need and does not require that funds be used for any purpose. It is bad policy for the United States economy and the American people."

Earlier this year, CITAC launched the Byrd Amendment Working Group, a multi-industry cooperative effort led by U.S. companies impacted by the Byrd Amendment duties and by foreign retaliation against U.S. exports.  The Group is supporting HR 1121, a bill sponsored by Reps. Jim Ramstad (R-MN) and Clay Shaw (R-FL) that would repeal the Byrd amendment.

CITAC is headquartered in Washington, D.C. with the primary objective of ensuring that manufacturers in America have access to reliable supplies of globally-priced materials necessary for those industries to compete in the world economy.  

Click here to view the list of Byrd Amendment recipients.