For Immediate Release: February 1, 2007
Contact: Jennifer Scoggins   (202) 482-3809

Commerce, USTR Release Subsidies Enforcement Report

Administration to Intensify Efforts to Discipline Subsidies in China

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Commerce and the Office of the United States Trade Representative today released a report detailing extensive Administration accomplishments in disciplining foreign manufacturing subsidies. The report highlights activities to combat subsidies in China and pledges to intensify such efforts in 2007.

“American workers can compete with anyone in the world if markets are open and the rules are fair,” said Franklin L. Lavin, Under Secretary for International Trade. “As this report shows, we’re committed to fighting foreign subsidies, and will use all the tools in the toolbox, from consultations to litigation, to level the playing field for American manufacturers.”

The report recounts Commerce and USTR’s 2006 anti-subsidy activities, from working to strengthen international rules that governs subsidies to addressing worldwide structural problems in heavily subsidized foreign sectors, such as the steel industry. It also contains a special section describing the Administration’s efforts to address China’s subsidy practices by, among other activities, investigating possible countervailable subsidies to China’s paper industry, and making full use of the WTO’s monitoring and enforcement mechanisms. It also outlines the U.S.-China working group to address structural issues in China’s economy, including those addressed in Commerce’s August denial of China’s request to be treated as a market economy in trade remedy cases. Commerce has also been actively engaged in the WTO Subsidies Committee, as well as other multilateral fora, to address China’s prohibited subsidies.

The report also describes Commerce’s decision to post officials in key countries, enabling the government to deploy expert, multi-lingual staff who conduct on-the-ground research and actively engage foreign officials on subsidy issues.

As required by the Uruguay Round Agreements Act, the “Subsidies Enforcement: Annual Report to Congress” details extensive Commerce engagement to address prohibited subsidies in China following the April 2006 submission of China’s subsidies notification to the World Trade Organization (WTO) Subsidies Committee. The report describes the efforts by Commerce and USTR, in close cooperation with other Executive Branch agencies, to monitor and challenge unfair foreign government subsidy practices worldwide. The Administration is committed to eliminating or offsetting foreign governments’ use of unfair trade practices when they hurt American workers and jobs.

The 2007 Subsidies Enforcement Reportwill be available at www.trade.gov and www.ustr.gov.

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2007 Subsidies Enforcement Report

Fact Sheet