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END TO CANADA LUMBER TARIFFS URGED

WASHINGTON, DC - A small bipartisan group of US lawmakers have sent a letter to the White House asking the Bush Administration to halt duties imposed on lumber imports from Canada, which they said are adding an estimated $1,000 to the cost of a new American home.
 
The US government slapped a 27% duty on shipments of Canadian softwood lumber in 2001 to punish Canada for allegedly subsidizing timber and selling it in the US below market prices.

Canadian sawmills, which supply about 30% of the softwood lumber used in US housing construction and remodeling, have paid about $2.2 billion in duties. Ottawa has denied any wrongdoing and a recent NAFTA trade panel found the US failed to prove any harm to its lumber industry.

The letter was signed by Republicans Jim Kolbe of Arizona, Roy Blunt of Missouri, Joe Knollenberg of Michigan, and Gary Miller of California. Democrats Richard Neal of Massachusetts, Steny Hoyer of Maryland and Cal Dooley of California also signed the letter.

Last month, the US Commerce Department said it wanted to cut in half the duties it collects on Canadian softwood lumber after changing the way it calculates the alleged subsidies.

The new calculation was proposed after international trade officials criticized the US methodology.

CHINESE FURNITURE "DUMPED" ON US MARKET

WASHINGTON, DC - The US Commerce Department (DOC) has ruled that Chinese bedroom furniture is being "dumped" in the US market, but the agency imposed relatively modest duties on the furniture - a rare departure from a long tradition of slapping stiff penalties on imports in such cases.

The decision involves the biggest anti-dumping case ever brought against China, which is the number one target of dumping charges brought by US firms. New cases against Chinese companies have been initiated at a rate of one per month since January 2003.

DOC officials agreed with US furniture makers and unions who complained that their Chinese competitors have been selling at unfairly low prices. But the department indicated that it couldn't find evidence of "severe dumping."

The case covers about $1.2 billion in wooden beds, armoires, dressers and other pieces that are often sold at chains such as Crate & Barrel, Rooms to Go, J.C. Penney, and The Bombay Company.

In a preliminary decision, the department set "dumping margins" ranging between 5% and 24% for the approximately 90 Chinese firms that account for the vast majority of imported bedroom furniture from that country, with an 11% margin set for most of the firms.

That means preliminary duties of those amounts will be imposed on most Chinese furniture imports, and the duties may be permanently set after department officials pursue further investigations of the dumping allegations, which will take a number of months.

US manufacturers were seeking duties upwards of 400%.

Cases involving "non-market" economies like China and Vietnam are easier than others for American manufacturers to make the argument that foreigners are selling below the cost of production, because department officials have considerable leeway in assessing costs. In a high-profile case brought by US catfish farmers against Vietnam, duties were set last year at 37% to 64%.
 
The duties "could have been a lot worse," said Mike Veitenheimer, general counsel of the Bombay Company and a spokesman for the Furniture Retailers of America, a group that fought the manufacturers. Still, he said, "this is only the preliminary decision," and he said his group would continue arguing for zero duties."

Furthermore, one group of Chinese companies, which didn't respond to Commerce's requests for information, was socked with duties of 198%. Those firms, which account for about one-fifth of China's bedroom furniture exports to the US, "will presumably be priced out of the market," he said.

Joseph W. Dorn, an attorney for the 31 manufacturers and five unions that brought the complaint, said he was "very pleased" that Commerce had found the Chinese were dumping, adding that he expects the department to impose "much higher" duties once it fully investigates the charges.

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