Brussels, 20/11/2002 (Agence Europe) - The European Union is prepared to make use of the procedures of the World Trade Organisation to defend the rights of its companies faced with the many and various obstacles that impede their access to the American market, said the European Commission when presenting, on Wednesday, its 18 annual report on barriers to trade and investment in the United States.
Punctuating a particularly critical year for multilateralism and rather tumultuous in the trading sphere of transatlantic relations - where co-operation does however remain privileged - this 73-page document stresses "the impact of internal protectionist pressures on the capability of the American Administration to honour its international obligations", such as in the steel sector, with unprecedented restrictions come to strengthen an already consequential arsenal of "defensive" measures in the farming sector, by an increase in public aid of close to 70% despite discourses and efforts made in the framework of the new WTO Round. And this year, is added to the "considerable number of obstacles, ranging from tariff barriers to more traditional non-tariff barriers to differences in the legal and regulatory systems", already noted in the past, "a score of follow-up recommendations and verdicts" of the trade arbitrator that is "deplorable".
Even in the cases of approaches that are also as "legitimate" as the initiative for the safety of containers in the wake of the attacks of 11 September or the Sarbanes-Oxley Law destined to rectify the negligence revealed in the a series of political and financial scandals, the USA is going too far and the Europeans are "worried" about it.
"One of the most disturbing aspects of US policy" is the fact that internal pressure to adopt protectionist measures appears to outweigh the will to find internationally agreed solutions, as witnessed with the "deplorable level, in terms of the speed for carrying out the implementation of the WTO recommendations and actions recently taken in the areas of steel and agriculture". Experts note that this year, the USA lost no less than 17 of the 19 trade disputes at Geneva and most of them were because of the "reasonable" deadline for there activation expiring without any change in US legislation. The case of intellectual property rights for music distribution in public places, the Byrd Amendment and many other compensatory measures hitting European steel producers, despite the condemnation of similar measures imposed on British Steel, have been thrown out. Brussels has observed that the most revealing case, due to its age and scale is undoubtedly that of the Fiscal Aid for Exports, which the Union managed to sanction to the tune of USD 4 billion but which the main "Made in America" contenders such as Boeing still benefit from. The aircraft manufacturer and direct Airbus rival has therefore stated in its financial declaration for 2001 that the tax benefits from the Fiscal Aids for Exports rose to USD 222 million, around 8% of its net b profits of USD 2.8 billion for the same year. "The agricultural policy has also been upset with the adoption of the law of agricultural safety and rural investment, the final draft of the Farm bill.
Despite consensus among WTO member countries, this legislation is along opposite lines and increases the distortionary effect of US farm subsidies, mainly by the 80% increase in aid to raw materials. It introduces counter-cyclical payments for arable crops and dairy products with a 120% increase on programmes to promote exports and the establishment of programmes for non-urgent food aid explicitly intended to expand the opportunities of US exports and be rid of surplus, it is stressed. The Commission also returns to the hackneyed principle of "national security" with a more pressing "concern" this year, given the US tendency toward unilaterally imposing a response to collective risks identified in airports and ports throughout the world. It went on to point out in this respect that, in the various stages of implementation, the initiative for container security, which was launched by the United States, will probably have discriminatory effects on European ports and is likely to cause distortion in the flow and rate of transport, thus threatening the working of the single market. Europeans, moreover, continue to deplore, without however becoming clearly impatient, the fact that there is no legislative initiative on the other side of the Atlantic for putting an end to the dispute caused by the Helms Burton and d'Amato legislation against Cuba, Iran and Libya whose extraterritorial scope is, as each year, severely criticised. Finally, the "carrousel" legislation, that would, where necessary, allow rotating sanctions to be imposed on European trade, also remains in the line of fire of Europeans, for example: some hundred tariff barriers, customs (port maintenance taxes), technical, sanitary and phytosanitary barriers, discrimination on public markets (various incentives to Buy America), public aid and trade defence measures.