Brussels, 29/11/2004 (Agence Europe) - US president George Bush affirmed that the USA still intended to comply with the WTO's conclusions in the "Byrd Amendment", despite the WTO giving the European Union and five other plaintiffs the green light (on Friday) to impose sanctions against Washington (EUROPE 27 November p 11). These reprisals, which will take the form of additional customs duties on US imports in 2005 on a long list of products agreed to by the WTO, including machines, agro-food products, textiles and paper products. Mr Bush informed the press that, "I'll work with Congress to get in compliance" with the WTO panel's conclusions, which in January 2003 ruled that anti-dumping legislation, known as the Byrd Amendment violated international rules on trade. According to this law, the US authorities plaintiff US companies, revenue from anti-dumping measures . In 2001-2002 these companies received USD 231 million and USD 330 respectively in this connection. According to European Commission estimates, the amount was USD 240 million in 2003.
In the follow up, Mr Bush has asked the WTO to make sure that everybody respected the rules for international trade, "We've worked hard to comply with the WTO. It think that it's important that all nations comply with WTO rulings". The US president added that, "We expect the WTO as well to treat our trading partners as they treat us…And that's why, for example, I filed a complaint on the Airbus situation. We believe the (European) subsidies for Airbus are unfair for US company such as Boeing". Bilateral consultations on Airbus/Boeing aid are still ongoing at the WTO.