AWPA's Fall Meeting
offered attendees a full roster of experienced and knowledgeable speakers who focused on the international trade arena. These
presentations were followed by Capitol Hill meetings during which over 40 AWPA members visited 65 offices, and fifteen visits were with the Member
of Congress in person. These meetings were very important in getting the word out to legislators about the importance of free and fair trade. Legislators
were also asked to co-sponsor and support the Consuming Industries Trade Action Coalition's (CITAC) bill ? "The Trade Law Fairness to US
Industry Act of 2000." This legislation is scheduled to be introduced during the upcoming Lame Duck congressional session.
As a direct result of these meetings, one Member of Congress signed on as a co-sponsor of the CITAC bill; many others promised to review it
next congressional session; and almost all agreed to help get wire producers representation at Steel Caucus meetings and other committee hearings focusing
on trade issues.
Opening the Fall Meeting program was an animated debate between representatives of each of the presidential campaigns who gave their candidates' views
on international trade.
Representing Vice President Gore, Representative Ellen Tauscher (D-CA) began by stating that "both campaigns support free and fair trade, including
Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) with China, the WTO and open trade." The difference between the candidates is how they want to maintain our
current strong economy. The bottom line is that the "Democrats believe that massive tax cuts are irresponsible." She added, "We need to promote
entrepreneurs and small businesses to help keep our economic growth on the right path."
Giving the Republican's side was Congressman Jim Kolbe (R-AZ). Beginning on a forceful note, he stated, "Gore has no trade policy. Bush, on the
other hand, has a clear agenda on where to go with trade." Mr. Kolbe added, "Environment and labor issues should not be the linchpin in trade agreements."
Additionally, multilateral talks need to continue, along with more trade initiatives in Latin America. To illustrate his point, he noted, "Chile
has negotiated free trade agreements with every country in the hemisphere except the US."
Turning to the nation's export/import picture, Brink Lindsey, Director
of the Center for Trade Policy Studies at the Cato Institute, gave his
views on the importance of free markets, specifically imports. His primary
point was that, contrary to protectionist rhetoric, imports are good for
the US. The pressure of foreign competition "keeps US businesses on their
toes." Additionally, it allows US manufacturers to concentrate on what
they do best and most efficiently.
He advised the audience to consider imports as a type of outsourcing.
In other words, "Imports are going up because manufacturing industries
are specializing more and outsourcing the rest." He added that manufacturing
today is the strongest it has ever been.
Looking at important statistics, Mr. Lindsey stated, "Only 2.2 million
people, or 2% of the entire workforce, are employed in import-sensitive
jobs." Unfortunately, trade officials usually consider only these 2% and
ignore the other 98% when making decisions. This leads to a distorted trade
policy.
Rounding out the program was Ms. Susan Dyszel from the Chicago Strategic
Trade Center who updated the members on the status of the Tariff Rate Quota
(TRQ) program, and specifically how misclassified imports were going to
be handled.
After a brief review of the program and the Center's role in monitoring
steel wire rod imports, Ms. Dyszel informed the members that there is a
problem with misclassified products listed as excluded material, but not
meeting the criteria for exclusion. There was approximately 250,000 metric
tons of material, imported in the first and second quarter of the TRQ program
that was claimed as excludable. Of that amount, Customs reviews have verified
that 127,000 tons were misclassified and subject to the quota. An additional
50,000 tons have been identified as potentially misclassified.
USTR and Customs decided that the misclassifications will be added to
the quota quarter in which they were originally shipped. For those second
quarter shipments over the quarterly quota, the Customs Service will issue
tariff bills to the Importer of Record. The tariff rate will be 10%.
To conclude, Ms. Dyszel advised that attendees could keep abreast of
the situation using the Customs webpage at www.customs.gov, clicking on
the CEBB tab, followed by the files tab, and then Quota Threshold Status.
AWPA wire and trading companies also receive a weekly report of the data
reported on this website.
Reps. Ellen Tauscher (D-CA) and Jim Kolbe (R-AZ) debate the trade policies of the two presidential candidates.
Rep. Howard Coble (R-NC) talks with AWPA President Pete Cronin, Industrial Wire Products Corp., and AWPA's GRAC Chairman H Woltz III, Insteel Industries, at the AWPA reception.
AWPA Board member Cheryl Coelho from ECD, Inc. discusses trade issues with Congressman Donald Payne (D-NJ).
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American Wire Producers Association
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Alexandria, VA 22314-1757
Tel (703) 299-4434 | Fax (703) 299-9233 | E-mail info@awpa.org | Web: www.awpa.org
