1 April 2005

CITAC: Repeal Byrd now

The following message is extracted from the 1 April 2005 edition of “The Journal of Commerce”.

The Consuming Industries Trade Action Coalition (CITAC) today renewed its call for Congress to repeal the Byrd Amendment, following announcements by the European Union, Canada and other governments that U.S. products will be subject to retaliatory tariffs beginning May 1. …

The EU will impose a 15 percent duty on various types of paper, clothing fabrics, footwear, and machinery -- amounting to tariffs worth approximately $28 million -- and Canada will impose like duties on cigarettes, oysters and live swine worth $14 million. …

"The more than $40 million dollar retaliation announced today is yet another reason that now is the time to repeal the Byrd Amendment," said Steve Alexander, CITAC executive director and president of lobbying firm The CMR Group. "The most important reason why the Byrd Amendment needs to be repealed is because it is hurting the U.S. economy and U.S. consumers. It encourages the abusive filing and perpetuation of trade cases. With other trading partners likely to soon join Canada and the EU in retaliating against U.S. exports, Congress should move swiftly to repeal the law."

According to Alexander, U.S. producers of steel, lumber, candles, pasta, seafood, ball bearings and other products have reaped over $1 billion in Byrd handouts from the federal government at the expense of American consuming industries over the past several years. In 2004 alone, $284 million was doled out in Byrd monies. The Office of Management and Budget estimated that the federal government would save $1.6 billion by repealing the Byrd Amendment and having funds stay in the U.S. treasury rather than be redistributed to a narrow group of U.S. companies.