Bush to decide on sanction against Chinese pipe

Bush to decide on sanction against Chinese pipe

Steel pipe manufacturers are petitioning President Bush this week to agree with the International Trade Commission's recommendation, made in October, to curb Chinese pipe imports. Under the Trade Law Section 421, the President must decide by December 30, 2005 if he will go along with the ITC's recommendation to institute a yearly quota of 160'000 tons for Chinese standard pipe. The ITC as well as industry petitioners support the institution of a quota, quite understandably, because Chinese exports have shot up from 10'000 net tons in 2002 to 380'000 net tons in 2005. The ITC's recommendation, however, exceeded considerably the 90'000 ton quota requested by the petitioners. Section 421 was passed with the intention to enable the president to protect the US industry from a sudden surge of imports, with China in mind. Only after passing this law did the U.S. agree to China's membership in the World Trade Organization. Only five quota requests have gone before the US trade representative since inception of the law. Of these five, only three have been submitted to the President for approval, and none have been approved. The President can accept, modify or reject the recommendation by the ITC.