WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. House of Representatives today approved a provision introduced by U.S. Representative Mike Bost (IL-12) to protect American workers from illegally traded foreign imports. It provides over $96 million to combat the dumping of foreign products in American markets at below market value and funds countervailing duties applied to imports subsidized by foreign governments.
“We have laws to protect American workers and producers from economic injury caused by illegally-traded foreign imports, many of which are produced in China,” said Bost. “However, there has been a substantial increase in these illegally traded imports, and the International Trade Administration has not been able to keep up with the growing caseload. We need an additional office to process these cases so that American workers and businesses are not stuck waiting for delayed relief while other nations are cheating.”
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The International Trade Administration (ITA) is the main federal entity that investigates anti-dumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) petitions from American producers. The agency has eight AD/CVD offices but needs a ninth to contend with a 57 percent year-over-year increase in complaints. Bost’s amendment seeks to set aside enough funding to open a ninth office and would require the Secretary of Commerce to provide quarterly reports to Congress on its progress in increasing AD/CVD activity staffing levels. The underlying bill also includes a provision requested by Bost to encourage the ITA to self-initiate AD/CVD petitions for small businesses that lack capacities to file petitions themselves.
Bost’s provision was attached as an amendment to legislation that will fund multiple federal agencies for the next fiscal year. The amendment was endorsed by the Alliance for American Manufacturing, the American Iron and Steel Institute, the Committee on Pipe and Tube Imports, the Municipal Castings Association, the Specialty Steel Industry of North America, the Steel Manufactures Association, and the United Steelworkers.
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