Portman, Brown Suggest Their AD/CVD Bill Could Address Need to Confront China's Mercantilism
The Leveling the Playing Field Act 2.0 (see 2104160037) could provide the new tools the administration needs to defend the U.S. from trade distortions caused by Chinese firms, Ohio's two senators wrote to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai.
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“We were encouraged by Ambassador Tai’s remarks in front of the Senate Finance Committee last week, that the United Stated needs '2021 tools for addressing the 2021 challenges we have rather than relying on 1962 tools and retrofitting them for the challenges we now have,'” wrote Sen. Rob Portman, a Republican, and Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat. They agree Section 232 is not ideal but also said antidumping and countervailing duty laws are outdated. They said it should be possible for complainants to expedite an investigation of a product that shifted from one country subject to an AD or CVD case to a new country. “This country-hopping has created a 'whack-a-mole' problem that has bedeviled authorities for years -- our legislation represents a solution to this vexing problem, which continues to allow China and its state run enterprises to always remain one step ahead of American workers and manufacturer,” the senators wrote May 18.
“This bill is not only aimed at steel and aluminum overcapacity -- although such overcapacity is the most famous -- other sectors, such as chemicals, cement, paper, shipbuilding, glass, and refining are plagued by China’s overcapacity as well.”