主题：【美国经济】【文摘】WTO为日本欧洲制裁美国钢铁保护扫平障碍 -- 西风陶陶

BUSH政府在全球化上倒行逆施，可谓劣迹斑斑。

EU, Japan Get WTO Clearance to Sanction U.S. on Steel (Update5)

Nov. 10 (Bloomberg) -- The World Trade Organization said in a final ruling that U.S. tariffs on imported steel are illegal, opening the way for $2.3 billion in sanctions and heightening pressure on President George W. Bush to end the protection.

The tariffs Bush imposed in March 2002 to aid U.S. Steel Corp., Nucor Corp. and other U.S. steelmakers were unjustified because steel imports were not surging at that time, a WTO appeals panel ruled. As a result the 15-member EU says it will strike back next month with its first retaliatory tariffs ever on U.S. imports, including textiles, oranges, cigarettes and steel.

The finding, in a case brought by the EU and seven nations including South Korea and Brazil, increases the urgency on Bush to drop the tariffs 15 months early. The administration is trying to shield an industry in politically important states such as Ohio and Pennsylvania, while also answering complaints from manufacturers such as Caterpillar Inc. that tariffs raised costs.

``There will be a trade-off between trying to further economic growth for the U.S., and protecting an industry that until recently has been in serious trouble,'' said Gene Pisasale, senior investment officer at Wilmington Trust, which owns shares of U.S. Steel, the largest North American steelmaker. ``It's these kinds of headlines that make people wary of putting their money in steel.''

The import duties, which initially covered more than $4 billion of imports, are the broadest protection offered to any U.S. industry since President Ronald Reagan shielded the industry in the 1980s. Since 1997 42 steel companies have declared bankruptcy.

`Breathing Space'

Shares of U.S. Steel fell 92 cents, or 3.8 percent, to $23.48 as of 4 p.m. New York time. Shares of Nucor, the largest maker of steel from scrap, fell $1.18, or 2.2 percent, to $53.10.

The tariffs ``gave our domestic industry an opportunity to restructure and consolidate to become stronger and more competitive,'' White House press secretary Scott McClellan told reporters traveling with Bush to speeches in Arkansas and South Carolina. ``They are fully consistent with WTO rules.''

Bush is now studying whether to keep the tariffs, he said.

The U.S. cannot contest the appeal at the WTO. It can reconsider its own legal reasoning for the tariffs to answer the WTO's objections, lawyers for the steel industry say.

Unless Bush decides to end them early, the tariffs are to remain until March 2005. He faces re-election in 2004, and the EU retaliation has been targeted to hit industries in politically important states of Florida and North Carolina.

``This certainly isn't something our economy needs right now,'' Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley said in an e-mailed statement. ``It's important that we comply when decisions go against us.''

A report in September by the International Trade Commission, an independent U.S. agency, said U.S. makers of auto parts such as Delphi Corp., electrical equipment, machinery and other steel- using products suffered the greatest injury from the tariffs.

Steel Consumer Costs

The duties have cost U.S. steel users about $680 million, the commission said. That compared with revenue of about $650 million generated by the duties for the U.S. Treasury.

The price for a ton of hot-rolled sheet steel climbed to $400 in July 2002 from $210 at the beginning of the year, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute. Prices then fell back to as low as $260 in July of this year, before rebounding to $295 in October. A surge in Chinese consumption has contributed to the newest rise.

The EU, the world's second-biggest steelmaker after China, says it will levy tariffs on $2.2 billion in goods beginning mid- December unless Bush removes the import duties. Japan has threatened sanctions on $123 million of U.S. imports.

``If we are going to avert a spillover effect on the rest of the economy, the tariffs need to be lifted,'' said Calman Cohen, president of the Emergency Committee for American Trade, which represents U.S. companies including Maytag Corp.

Steel industry representatives and workers urged Bush to hold firm. ``This should call into question what benefits the U.S. is getting from participating in the WTO,'' said Terrence Straub, chief lobbyist at U.S. Steel.

Trade Agenda

Bush, whose administration is pursuing an expanded free- trade agreement in the Americas and new trade-opening rules under the WTO, had already cut back tariffs before the global trade organization made its first ruling in July.

The U.S. has imposed $116 million in duties against the EU in retaliation for its ban on hormone-treated beef. Two-way trade between the U.S. and EU is worth $600 billion a year.

U.S. imports of steel from the European Union fell to $1.6 billion in the first nine months of this year from $2.8 billion in 2000, before the tariffs were in place.

``The EU has been the biggest victim in this,'' said Christian Mari, a director at Brussels-based Eurofer, which represents companies producing 95 percent of European steel.

Sales of steel covered by the tariffs, hurting European companies including Corus and Arcelor SA, have fallen almost 40 percent, or 1.57 million metric tons, he said. EU sales to the rest of the world fell only 4 percent over the same period.

Steel imports to the U.S. were $7 billion in the first eight months of this year, down 6.6 percent from the same period last year and 34 percent in the first eight months of 2000, before the tariffs were levied.

U.S. steel production, meanwhile, is likely to reach its highest level since 2000 this year, the steel industry association says.