US govt seeks to tighten trade laws

The Obama administration said it plans to step up enforcement of trade laws against nations, such as China and Vietnam, that help subsidise companies exporting cheap goods to the US.

The US Commerce Department, in an e-mailed statement today, said it developed 14 proposals that will help crack down on illegal import practices and require parties to pay the full amount of any duties. The process to adopt the proposals, which the department said are especially aimed at countries where the government has control over markets, will begin later this year.

The plan is part of the administration’s effort to double exports in the next five years to spur job growth, a goal President Barack Obama set in his State of the Union speech in January. Doubling exports would help support 2 million new jobs, the administration said.

The Obama administration “is committed to aggressively enforcing our trade laws to ensure a level playing field for US companies and their workers — the engines of our economic growth,” Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said in the statement.

The proposal would end the practice of letting individual foreign companies avoid paying extra duties if they show they weren’t dumping or receiving subsidies during a certain period. Under the plan, companies would have to wait for the normal country-wide expiration of the duties.

Also, importers would have pay a cash deposit to continue bringing products into the US during an investigation, instead of being able to post a bond for the estimated duties owed. The department said that, in the past, that estimate was too low.

ITA effectiveness
The proposals are designed to improve the effectiveness of the International Trade Administration (ITA), which investigates whether foreign companies exporting products to the US are receiving unfair subsidies from their home countries or flooding US markets to undercut American businesses.