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US Trade Representative
Susan Schwab
has been asked by Senator Diane Feinstein, D-California to
investigate whether the US ethanol import tariff violates the WTO
rules. In this regards, Senator Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, is sending a
letter to Schwab emphasising the compliance of the tariff with WTO
rules.
"I think it is clear it's
within our
international legal obligations," Grassley says. "The tariff was
accepted by consensus, and I want to emphasise by consensus, by
members of the WTO, including Brazil at the conclusion of the Uruguay
Round of WTO negotiations, going back at least 15 years."
Grassley says he strongly
disagrees
with Feinstein's position that the possibility of a Brazil challenge
at the WTO should cause the US to take unilateral action to lower the
tariff.
"Not only is the US ethanol
tariff in
its current form explicitly permitted under WTO rules, there are also
many policy reasons for opposing the lower tariff," Grassley says.
"The United States remains heavily reliant upon foreign energy
sources and lowering the ethanol tariff would only make us more
dependent upon imported energy and what difference does that make if
that's oil or ethanol. We're still sending money overseas that we
ought to be keeping in the United States." (Source: Trade
Observatory)
August 22, 2008
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