Senators from both sides of the aisle have signed a letter sent to the Acting U.S. Trade Representative and Acting Secretary of Commerce to ask that they review and consider a World Trade Organization challenge to the European Union’s controversial and unprecedented anti-dumping duty recently imposed on U.S. ethanol producers. Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Bob Dinneen and Growth Energy CEO Tom Buis have issued a joint statement on the rare bipartisan agreement generated by the anti-dumping duty. According to Dinneen, Buis and the Senators – the EU Commission failed to make any particular finding of dumping by any producer or marketer investigated in connection with the case. If allowed to stand – they say the rule would set a dangerous precedent for trade and trade remedies in advance of important trade talks between the U.S. and EU. Dinneen, Buis and the Senators say it will also dramatically change the boundaries and limits of international anti-dumping law. Dinneen and Buis believe the WTO will nullify the anti-dumping duty on exports of ethanol from the U.S.
The letter to Acting USTR Demetrios Manatos and Acting Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank was co-authored by South Dakota Senator John Thune and Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar. Iowa’s Tom Harkin and Chuck Grassley, Al Franken of Minnesota, Mike Johanns and Deb Fischer of Nebraska, North Dakota’s Heidi Heitkamp and John Hoeven, Tim Johnson of South Dakota, Claire McCaskill and Roy Blunt of Missouri, Pat Roberts of Kansas and Richard Durbin of Illinois co-sponsored the letter.
Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says the administration should take an aggressive position against the penalty because of the way it violates trade law standards and practices that are well established. He says what has happened is an unfair trade practice that has already had a measurable negative impact on the U.S. renewable energy industry.
Source: NAFB News Service