Brussels/Washington, 24/09/2003 (Agence Europe) - Following the presentation of mitigated conclusions by the American International Trade Commission (ITC) on import surtaxes on steel, it will be up to President Bush "to take, in the coming weeks, the politically sensitive decision" on whether or not to keep in place safeguard measures restricting access to the American steel market since March 2001, and which were ruled illegal at first instance in Geneva (see yesterday, p.13). In the meantime, the Bureau of the Trade Representative will examine the two reports presented as part of the mid-term review of measures taken under section 201 of the US trade legislation "to help the steel industry to adjust to international competition", said Richard Mills, the USTR's spokesperson. And, at the same time, he added, "we will be continuing talks with producers and users of steel, members of Congress and other interested parties".
Several sources confirmed on Tuesday that these few weeks of reflection are expected to turn into months, "at least until November". This will allow Washington enough time to find out whether the World Trade Organisation (WTO)'s appeals body will confirm the verdict returned by multilateral arbitration, which last July ruled against the measure that had been widely contested the world over. The two ITC studies, commissioned by the White House and Congress respectively, struggled to come down on the side on American industry in the impact assessment of the measures in question, and therefore refrained from doing so. And with good reason: the temporary surtaxes on import have, according to experts, helped producers, which was the avowed intention. But they have done so "to a very minor extent", whereas steel-using industries, car manufacturers in particular, have suffered "disproportionately", according to an official source. In their reports, the experts stated that surtaxes have set American GDP back 30.4 billion dollars a year and penalised steel users. "For most products covered by safeguard measures, the prices paid by user industries have increased" and just under half of them (automotive, white goods and metal packaging sectors) "have encountered difficulties in sourcing steel in the quality and quantities required, since the measures came in", they add.