For Immediate Release: February 1, 2007
FACT SHEET
Commerce, USTR Release Subsidies Enforcement Report
- Today, the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) released the 2007 Subsidies Enforcement Report to Congress.
- The report describes the efforts by Commerce and USTR to monitor and challenge unfair foreign government subsidy practices worldwide.
- The U.S. Government is committed to eliminating or neutralizing foreign governments’ use of unfair trade-distorting subsidies when they adversely impact American workers and industries by pursuing its rights under the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures and by ensuring that the United States’ trading partners adhere to their obligations under those agreements. In late 2006, Commerce initiated an anti-subsidy investigation against China’s paper industry. Commerce currently has 47 anti-subsidy orders in effect.
- During 2006, USTR and Commerce worked with a broad array of U.S. industries and companies to address their concerns about unfair foreign government subsidy practices in a wide range of countries. These activities included ongoing work on behalf of the U.S. textile, steel, aerospace, paper, automobile, and biotechnology industries.
- In early 2006, the United States proposed expanding the category of subsidies prohibited under the Subsidies Agreement. The proposed strengthened disciplines would greatly enhance the United States’ ability to address, and potentially deter, subsidy-related unfair trade practices confronting U.S. industries.
- The 2007 Report also describes how USTR and Commerce identified significant omissions from China’s long-overdue subsidies notification submitted to the WTO Subsidies Committee in April 2006. These omissions included subsidies provided by China’s state-owned banks or by provincial and local government authorities.
- The United States also began seeking changes to China’s subsidies practices through a series of bilateral meetings in Beijing, where the United States made it clear that China needed to withdraw its prohibited subsidies. The import and export subsidies at issue benefit a wide range of industries in China, which make it more difficult for U.S. manufacturers to compete against Chinese manufacturers in the U.S. and third-country markets.
- Although the exchanges helped to clarify concerns and certain information, China has been unwilling to commit to the immediate withdrawal of the subsidies in question. The United States will continue to seek the withdrawal of China’s prohibited subsidies, both bilaterally and at the WTO.