Y 4. W 36:95-46 VOVERSIGHT OF THE ANTIDUMPING ACT OF 1921 95-1 99-627 HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON TRADE OF THE COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS NINETY-FIFTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION ON THE ADEQUACY AND THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE NOVEMBER 8, 1977 Serial 95-46 Printed for the use of the Committee on Ways and Means COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS AL ULLMAN, Oregon, Chairman JAMES A. BURKE, Massachusetts JAMES C. CORMAN, California SAM M. GIBBONS, Florida JOE D. WAGGONNER, JR., Louisiana OTIS G. PIKE, New York J. J. PICKLE, Texas CHARLES B. RANGEL, New York WILLIAM R. COTTER, Connecticut FORTNEY H. (PETE) STARK, California JAMES R. JONES, Oklahoma ANDY JACOBS, JR., Indiana ABNER J. MIKVA, Illinois MARTHA KEYS, Kansas JOSEPH L. FISHER, Virginia HAROLD FORD, Tennessee KEN HOLLAND, South Carolina RICHARD A. GEPHARDT, Missouri BARBER B. CONABLE, JR., New York GUY VANDER JAGT, Michigan Department of the Treasury: Robert H. Mundheim, General Counsel; and Peter Ehrenhaft, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Tariff Affairs_. U.S. Customs Service: Robert E. Chasen, Commissioner; Glenn Robert Dickerson, Deputy Commissioner; and John O'Loughlin, Duty Assess- U.S. International Trade Commission: Robert Cornell, Acting Director of Operations; Bruce Hatton, Director, Office of Congressional Liaison; Michael Stein, Deputy General Counsel; and Harold Brant, Legal Serv- American Iron & Steel Institute, Dominic B. King, and Robert Peabody-- Buchanan, Hon. John, a Representative in Congress from the State of Byrne, Richard, Hand Tools Institute___ Cyclops Corp., William H. Knoell and Donald F. de Kieffer_. de Kieffer, Donald F., Cyclops Corp--- Fisher, Bart S., Korf Industries, Inc__ Hand Tools Institute, Norman A. Velisek and Richard Byrne_. Korf Industries, Inc., Roger R. Regelbrugge, Scott Lowden, Charles O. Verrill, and Bart S. Fisher__. Lead-Zinc Producers Committee, Seth M. Bodner_. Lowden, Scott, Korf Industries, Inc--- Peabody, Robert, American Iron & Steel Institute- Vogl, Alexander J., Wilton Corp-. Wilton Corp., Alexander J. Vogl‒‒‒‒‒ American Importers Association, statement__ Expanded Metal Manufacturers Association, Brock R. Landry, letter_ National Journal_. Senators Birch Bayh, John Glenn, H. John Heinz III, Jennings Ran- 163 69 OVERSIGHT OF THE ANTIDUMPING ACT OF 1921 TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1977 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON TRADE, The subcommittee met at 10 a.m., pursuant to notice, in room 1301, Longworth House Office Building, Hon. Charles A. Vanik (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Mr. VANIK. The subcommittee will be in order. Today's hearing is the first of what will be a series of hearings continuing until next year on the administration of the Nation's unfair trade practices laws. We have scheduled all of our witnesses today contrary to our previous notice. There will be no hearing tomorrow. The record will be open until November 21. Also, there are a number of witnesses, so in order to have maximum time for questioning, oral statements will be limited to 5 minutes. I believe that most observers would agree that in the past the antidumping laws have been extremely ineffective. Today's hearing will bring out just how ineffective the past administration of the law has been. As Congressmen Rostenkowski, Steiger, and myself wrote to Secretary Blumenthal on October 13, concerning the Zenith case, "it appears to us that a burden of proof rests with the Treasury Department that its failure-in the Zenith antidumping case-has resulted in a loss of domestic production facilities and jobs which should have never been lost." This is an oversight hearing, not a legislative hearing. But, we are seeking ideas and suggestions from the general public about ways the operation of the laws could be more effective and cases can proceed more quickly. At the same time, the law must be fair to our trading partners, and it must be perceived as such. The due process safeguards must be preserved. I am concerned that so-called aggressive enforcement of the antidumping laws will be misunderstood overseas as meaning that cases are already decided in favor of the domestic producers and that America is erecting a massive nontrade barrier, which in the case of steel, could result in an embargo of all foreign steel from the country. Pursuing antidumping aggressively, if carried out unfairly, or if others believe it is carried out unfairly, could result in trade retaliation. (1) |