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Noticias del día22 de febrero de 2004
A coalition of U.S. shrimp farmers won a preliminary International Trade Commission ruling Tuesday in a trade complaint seeking to curb $2.4 billion of annual shrimp imports from Brazil, China, Ecuador, India, Thailand and Vietnam.
In the first of four must-win decisions for the Southern Shrimp Alliance, the U.S. agency determined, by a 6-0 vote, that U.S. shrimp producers were being hurt by imports from those six nations.
Shrimp from there accounts for three-quarters of U.S. shrimp imports. The Tarpon Spring-based alliance has requested tariffs as high as 267 percent on frozen and canned shrimp.
U.S. producers say wholesale shrimp prices have fallen more than 26 percent since 2000 because of a flood of imports. The case alleges that the foreign producers are illegally dumping their product in the United States at prices below what they charge in their own countries. Shrimp is America's most popular seafood, according to government statistics.
The case may lead to the largest and broadest U.S. trade dispute since the Bush administration levied tariffs on steel in March 2002. Those tariffs, which Bush rescinded in December, covered $3 billion in annual imports.
The Department of Commerce must decide in the coming months whether the foreign producers are illegally dumping, or selling their goods at less than the cost of production, into the U.S. market. If it rules in the industry's favor, preliminary duties may be in place by March.
Source: Miami Herald
