"[L]abour union lobbies and their political friends have decided that the ideal defence against competition from the poor countries is to raise their cost of production by forcing their standards up, claiming that competition with countries with lower standards is “unfair”. “Free but fair trade” becomes an exercise in insidious protectionism that few recognise as such."
Jagdish Bhagwati,
"Obama and Trade: An Alarm Sounds," Financial Times. January 9, 2009.
by Christopher M. Dumler
Christopher M. Dumler is an international economist in Washington, D.C., specializing in high-technology trade issues.
October 14, 1997
Executive Summary
America's anti-dumping laws punish consumers and penalize foreign companies trying to compete in the U.S. market. The dumping charge recently upheld against Japanese supercomputer makers shows the economic illogic and systematic unfairness of the law.
By imposing punitive tariffs of up to 454 percent, the U.S. Department of Commerce has effectively killed import competition in the domestic supercomputer market. As a result, a federally funded agency has been forced to cancel a contract--depriving taxpayers and consumers alike of the full benefits of price competition.
The law is so biased against importers that the Commerce Department upholds 96 percent of the initial claims it receives. As a result, the law has become merely a tool to protect domestic industries from competition. Congress should repeal the anti-dumping code.
 Full Text of Briefing Paper no. 32 (HTML) |
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