Japan on Monday extended for a year punitive tariffs on ball bearings and tapered roller bearings imported from the United States in retaliation for a U.S. antidumping trade law, but the country will cut the tariffs by more than half, Journal of Commerce reports. The decision to extend the retaliatory tariffs until Aug. 31, 2012, is to be formally endorsed at a Cabinet meeting this month, according to the Japanese government.
Japan first imposed retaliatory tariffs on 15 items, including steel products, on Sept. 1, 2005, over the U.S. antidumping trade law, known as the Byrd amendment. The European Union, Canada and Mexico implemented similar countermeasures against the U.S.
The upcoming one-year extension of the Japanese retaliatory tariffs will be the sixth, although the number of items subject to the punitive tariffs has significantly declined in the past six years.
Enacted in 2000, the controversial Byrd amendment, allows antidumping duties collected by the U.S. administration from foreign companies to be distributed among U.S. firms to cover their losses from cheap imports.
In January 2003, the World Trade Organization, the Geneva-based watchdog on international commerce, ruled the Byrd amendment violated international rules and ordered the U.S. to repeal it.
Additional tariffs will be maintained on ball bearings and tapered roller bearings imported from the U.S. for another year, but tariff rates will be lowered from the current 4.1 percent to 1.7 percent because the funds distributed in the last year have been reduced, METI said.
In February 2006, the U.S. enacted a law that repealed the Byrd amendment, but it includes transitional provisions for entries of goods filed before Oct. 1, 2007.
“Thus illegal distribution is expected to continue for a substantial period of time, even beyond this year,” METI said.
Japan first imposed retaliatory tariffs on 15 items, including steel products, on Sept. 1, 2005, over the U.S. antidumping trade law, known as the Byrd amendment. The European Union, Canada and Mexico implemented similar countermeasures against the U.S.
The upcoming one-year extension of the Japanese retaliatory tariffs will be the sixth, although the number of items subject to the punitive tariffs has significantly declined in the past six years.
Enacted in 2000, the controversial Byrd amendment, allows antidumping duties collected by the U.S. administration from foreign companies to be distributed among U.S. firms to cover their losses from cheap imports.
In January 2003, the World Trade Organization, the Geneva-based watchdog on international commerce, ruled the Byrd amendment violated international rules and ordered the U.S. to repeal it.
Additional tariffs will be maintained on ball bearings and tapered roller bearings imported from the U.S. for another year, but tariff rates will be lowered from the current 4.1 percent to 1.7 percent because the funds distributed in the last year have been reduced, METI said.
In February 2006, the U.S. enacted a law that repealed the Byrd amendment, but it includes transitional provisions for entries of goods filed before Oct. 1, 2007.
“Thus illegal distribution is expected to continue for a substantial period of time, even beyond this year,” METI said.