WASHINGTON - Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Sander Levin (D-MI) today made the following statement on the floor of the House of Representatives in support of H.R. 4105, legislation that ensures the Commerce Department can apply countervailing duties to non-market economies like China:
This bill will send a clear signal that there are clear consequences when a country violates the rules. China is tilting the field of competition by not playing by the rules. This bill restores a key instrument for our nation to hold China accountable. Failure to pass this bill would be an enormous step backward at a time when we need to fast forward our efforts to rein in China’s abusive trade practices that in part lead to our record $295 billion trade deficit with China. This legislation ensures that tools remain available under U.S. trade law so that manufacturers can fight back against unfair Chinese trade subsidies.
Countervailing duties have been a part of U.S. trade law for nearly 120 years. And today, almost half (23 of 50) of all countervailing duty orders in place involve China. This is not surprising; a central element of Chinese industrial policy has been to provide massive subsidies to its producers to help them knock out the competition and dominate the market. These include loans at below-market interest rates, cheap or sometimes free land, extensive tax breaks and other subsidies designed to advantage domestic industry.
To date, countervailing duties have been the singular form of relief available to the American workers and companies devastated by mercantilist policies. Over the last six years, Commerce has put in place 23 countervailing duty orders against China and five other investigations are currently underway. More than $4 billion in subsidized imports have been covered by these measures, shielding an estimated 80,000 American jobs from unfair competition. Yet, in December, based on a deeply flawed assessment of Congressional intent, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled that Commerce - which administers U.S. countervailing duty law - does not have authority to apply those laws to “non-market economy countries" like China. That decision threatens to eviscerate the U.S. right to apply countervailing duties to China; a right protected under WTO rules. And it threatens to cripple Commerce in its efforts to combat Chinese subsidies that harm our industries.
With this bill, we are making clear that the Federal Circuit’s decision was wrong and it cannot stand. Commerce has always had the authority to apply countervailing duties to non-market economies such as China and now it shall continue to have and exercise this vitally important authority in the future. Because of this bill, tens of thousands of American workers, and scores of American companies, in 38 states across this country that have shown that they are entitled to relief from unfair subsidization by non-market economies will continue to get that relief. This bill ensures all the existing orders and investigations remain in place. For these reasons, I support passing H.R. 4105 now and I urge my colleagues to support it.
