Briefs	E-mail PagePrint Version

EU AIRBUS SUBSIDIES TARGETED 

SEATTLE, Washington - President George Bush told an assembled crowd at the Boeing Company that European nations should end their subsidies of the aircraft manufacturer Airbus, saying the US is prepared to take issue all the way to the World Trade Organization.
 
The President said that he has instructed US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick to inform European officials of the US position at an upcoming trade meeting next month.
 
"We think these subsidies are unfair and that [the USTR] should pursue all options to end these subsidies, including bringing a WTO case if need be," Bush told reporters after the Boeing meeting, adding, "We think these subsidies should end."

Bush said he is confident that American companies can compete with all foreign competitors as long as the playing field is level.
 
Airbus, established in1970 as a consortium of several European companies, has received large government subsidies from European nations and continues to receive them.
 
The company is based in Toulouse, France.
 
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC JOINS US-CENTRAL AMERICA FTA

WASHINGTON, DC - The Dominican Republic has joined five Central American countries in a historic free-trade agreement with the US, thereby creating "the second-largest free-trade zone in Latin America for US exports," says the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Zoellick.

The USTR, the Dominican Republic's Secretary for Industry and Commerce Sonia Guzman, and representatives of five Central American nations signed the US-Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA) on August 5.

The Dominican Republic joins the Central American countries of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, as well as the US, as a party to the trade pact.

The agreement will eliminate 80% of the tariffs [on US goods in the region] immediately, with the remaining tariffs phased out over ten years.

Some 80% of DR-CAFTA imports already enter the US duty-free with the new pact expected to "significantly" expand access for US-sourced products and services.

JAPANESE MOTORS "DUMPED" ON US MARKET

WASHINGTON, DC - The Commerce Department (DOC) has ruled that Japanese outboard motors are being sold in the US at unfairly low prices and has proposed imposing penalty tariffs on the imported engines.
 
The DOC's International Trade Administration made a preliminary determination that tariffs of 22.52% should be imposed on outboard engines manufactured by the Yamaha Marine Co. and several other Japanese manufacturers.

The ruling came in a case brought by Wisconsin-based Mercury Marine Inc., one of the largest US makers of outboard motors.
 
The company, which racked up $1.8 billion in sales last year, had contended it was being materially injured because Japanese manufacturers were selling their outboard motors in the US either below the price in the Japanese market or below the cost of production, a practice known as dumping.
 
The ITA ruling will not become final until it conducts a further investigation that involves taking public comments.
 
The agency said it likely would make its final decision by the end of the year, after which the case will go back to the US International Trade Commission for a final ruling on whether U.S. companies are being hurt by sales of the Japanese motors.
 
According to the DOC, the US imported outboard motors valued at $673.5 million fro Japan last year, a 15% increase from 2002.
 
Mercury Marine's Japanese competitors include Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, and Tohatsu.

Go back, or read the latest briefs:

TRADE

empty