Tariffs

WASHINGTON - With trade becoming an increasingly contentious political issue, the European Union imposed tariffs yesterday on a wide range of U.S. products because Congress has failed to repeal an illegal export subsidy for American firms. The new tariffs - essentially taxes charged at the border - apply to a long list of American goods sold in Europe, including jewelry, hams, pineapples, clothing and shoes. They are expected to cost U.S. companies $315 million this year and $666 million in 2005.

A year after President Bush imposed tariffs on imported steel, the controversial move continues to evoke sharp criticism as well as unwavering support from steelmakers, manufacturers and industry experts. Steelmakers applaud the tariffs for helping to shore up domestic steel prices over the past year, encourage consolidation in a troubled industry, and dissuade foreign nations from flooding the U.S. market with cheaper steel. But many steel consumers argue that the tariffs have caused economic hardship among manufacturers, and forced them to pay higher prices for steel that goes into their products.

Seven months ago, Pakistanis hoped elections would usher in a brighter era. Instead, skies are darkening. As President Asif Ali Zardari visited the United Nations and met with President Bush this week, Pakistan watchers worried that simultaneous political and economic crises are pushing the country toward disaster. In response, both the administration and its Democratic critics advocate a new round of foreign aid increases. But past aid increases have failed to achieve results. If we expect different results, we need a different approach: an economic policy built upon trade and job creation for Pakistan's people, not just aid to its soldiers and ministries.

President Bush moved yesterday, as expected, to lift tariffs designed to protect the U.S. steel industry from foreign competition. While the industry condemned the decision, some experts said steelmakers could thrive over the next several years without help from the tariffs, propelled by a strengthening economy, more efficient operations and a weakening dollar, which has made steel imports more costly. If the steel industry does thrive, it could take the sting out of yesterday's controversial decision and win Bush votes in pivotal steel-producing states as he wages his re-election campaign next year.

LUKE, Md. -- China is 7,000 miles away from this speck of a town in the mountains, half a world away. But as a looming economic threat, the country has never seemed so stiflingly close. The paper mill here that employs 950 is feeling the pressure of cheaper Chinese imports. On New Year's Eve, it shut down one of its three huge manufacturing machines and cut 130 jobs, touching off rumors across the tri-state region where employees live that it was only a matter of time before the plant closed.

LONDON - The United States will likely grant a "significant" number of exemptions from steel-import tariffs imposed last month, Treasury Secretary Paul H. O'Neill said yesterday in an attempt to defuse trade complaints by almost two dozen nations. Foreign steelmakers have until early July to seek exemptions from levies of as much as 30 percent set March 5. Many of the 1,000 requests the United States has received will be granted, O'Neill said on the British Broadcasting Corp.'s Today program.

BEIJING -- After 13 years of intermittent negotiations and six days of exhaustive talks, Washington and Beijing reached an agreement yesterday that opens the world's most populous economy to broader foreign competition while greatly boosting China's chances of entering the World Trade Organization.The accord offers foreign firms increased access to a variety of sectors in the Chinese economy -- such as banking, auto sales, movies and the Internet -- and marks a major step in the nation's continued opening to the outside world.

President Bush imposed three-year tariffs of up to 30 percent on imported steel yesterday to give the beleaguered domestic industry time to consolidate and get on its feet, a move that drew praise from steelmakers, lukewarm support from steel workers, and vitriol from exporting nations and domestic steel users. But even as Bush attempted to give the industry relief against a flood of imports, he declined to support a government bailout of the multibillion-dollar tab for retiree health care costs and pensions.

On the heels of a decision to allow more duty-free steel into the country, the U.S. International Trade Commission dealt another blow to steelmakers yesterday when it ruled that major U.S. producers had not been harmed by certain cold-rolled imports. The decision means domestic steelmakers - dozens of which have filed for bankruptcy protection in recent years - will not get the added protections they were seeking. The decision was hailed by steel users, who say they have suffered from higher steel prices because of the tariffs President Bush imposed in March to help the struggling domestic steel industry to get back on its feet.

WASHINGTON - Executives from competing steel companies stood shoulder to shoulder yesterday with a top union official and Sen. Jay Rockefeller in their push for President Bush to impose 40 percent tariffs on imported steel. The fate of the American steel industry is in "the cup of the hands of the president of the United States," the West Virginia Democrat said yesterday prior to a Senate committee hearing on tariffs. Imported steel that has been flowing freely into the United States has helped drive down prices and has in part lead to dozens of steel makers filing for bankruptcy protection over the past several years.