US Representative Mr Pete Visclosky is blasting a federal appeals court ruling that countervailing duties may not be imposed against non market economies in addition to anti dumping duties.

The US Court of Appeals issued that ruling on December 19th 2011 in the case GPX International Tire Corporation vs US.

Mr Visclosky, vice chair of the Congressional Steel Caucus, said that "Striking down countervailing duty charges that offset foreign subsidies endangers American manufacturing jobs. Allowing unfairly subsidized, below cost goods into US markets undermines our manufacturing sector and could cripple the recovery of America’s most important job creators, like steel."

Representative Mr Tim Murphy, chair of the Congressional Steel Caucus, said that "This ruling strikes a terrible blow to domestic manufacturers and needlessly puts American jobs at risk. For our manufacturing sector to rebound, foreign governments cannot be allowed to cheat by giving generous state subsidies to exporters selling products in the US. I'll continue working with like minded lawmakers to make sure that we enact policies to prevent that from happening."

A statement released last week by Mr Visclosky's office said that "In 2007 the US Department of Commerce determined for the first time that it could levy countervailing duties on top of anti dumping duties for non market economies. Implementing countervailing duties has added protection for U.S. industry against subsidized goods from non market countries. The case will be appealed and could be heard by the Supreme Court if the appeal is accepted."

(Sourced from www.chestertontribune.com)