To Facilitate Positive Adjustment to Competition
From Imports of Certain Steel Products
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
9. Pursuant to section 203 of the Trade Act (19 U.S.C.
2253), the actions I have determined to take shall
be safeguard measures in the form of:
(a) a tariff rate quota on imports of slabs described
in paragraph 7, imposed for a period of 3 years
plus 1 day, with annual increases in the within-quota
quantities and annual reductions in the rates of
duty applicable to goods entered in excess of those
quantities in the second and third years; and
(b) an increase in duties on imports of certain
flat steel, other than slabs (including plate, hot-rolled
steel, cold-rolled steel and coated steel), hot-rolled
bar, cold-finished bar, rebar, certain welded tubular
products, carbon and alloy fittings, stainless steel
bar, stainless steel rod, tin mill products, and
stainless steel wire, as described in paragraph
7, imposed for a period of 3 years plus 1 day, with
annual reductions in the rates of duty in the second
and third years, as provided in the Annex to this
proclamation.
10. The safeguard measures described in paragraph
9 shall not apply to the products listed in clauses
following clause (ix) in subdivision (b) of Note
11 in the Annex to this proclamation.
11. These safeguard measures shall apply to imports
from all countries, except for products of Canada,
Israel, Jordan, and Mexico.
12. These safeguard measures shall not apply to
imports of any product described in paragraph 7
of a developing country that is a member of the
World Trade Organization (WTO), as long as that
country's share of total imports of the product,
based on imports during a recent representative
period, does not exceed 3 percent, provided that
imports that are the product of all such countries
with less than 3 percent import share collectively
account for not more than 9 percent of total imports
of the product. If I determine that a surge in imports
of a product described in paragraph 7 of a developing
country WTO member undermines the effectiveness
of the pertinent safeguard measure, the safeguard
measure shall be modified to apply to such product
from such country.
13. The in-quota quantity in each year under the
tariff rate quota described in paragraph 9 shall
be allocated among all countries except those countries
the products of which are excluded from such tariff
rate quota pursuant to paragraphs 11 and 12.
14. Pursuant to section 203(a)(1)(A) of the Trade
Act (19 U.S.C. 2253(a)(1)(A)), I have further determined
that these safeguard measures will facilitate efforts
by the domestic industry to make a positive adjustment
to import competition and provide greater economic
and social benefits than costs. If I determine that
further action is appropriate and feasible to facilitate
efforts by the pertinent domestic industry to make
a positive adjustment to import competition and
to provide greater economic and social benefits
than costs, or if I determine that the conditions
under section 204(b)(1) of the Trade Act are met,
I shall reduce, modify, or terminate the action
established in this proclamation accordingly. In
addition, if I determine within 30 days of the date
of this proclamation, as a result of consultations
between the United States and other WTO members
pursuant to Article 12.3 of the WTO Agreement on
Safeguards that it is necessary to reduce, modify,
or terminate a safeguard measure, I shall proclaim
the corresponding reduction, modification, or termination
of the safeguard measure within 40 days.
15. Section 604 of the Trade Act, as amended (19
U.S.C. 2483), authorizes the President to embody
in the HTS the substance of the relevant provisions
of that Act, and of other acts affecting import
treatment, and actions thereunder, including the
removal, modification, continuance, or imposition
of any rate of duty or other import restriction.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of
the United States of America, acting under the authority
vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of
the United States, including but not limited to
sections 203 and 604 of the Trade Act, and section
301 of title 3, United States Code, do proclaim
that:
(1) In order to establish increases in duty and
a tariff rate quota on imports of the certain steel
products described in paragraph 7 (other than excluded
products), subchapter III of chapter 99 of the HTS
is modified as provided in the Annex to this proclamation.
Any merchandise subject to a safeguard measure that
is admitted into U.S. foreign trade zones on or
after March 20, 2002, must be admitted as "privileged
foreign status" as defined in 19 CFR 146.41,
and will be subject upon entry to any quantitative
restrictions or tariffs related to the classification
under the applicable HTS subheading.
(2) Such imports of certain steel that are the
product of Canada, Israel, Jordan, or Mexico shall
be excluded from the safeguard measures established
by this proclamation, and such imports shall not
be counted toward the tariff rate quota limits that
trigger the over-quota rates of duty.
(3) Except as provided in clause (4) below, imports
of certain steel that are the product of WTO member
developing countries, as provided in subdivision
(d)(i) of Note 11 in the Annex to this proclamation,
shall be excluded from the safeguard measures established
by this proclamation, and such imports shall not
be counted toward the tariff rate quota limits that
trigger the over-quota rates of duties.
(4) Clause (3) above shall not apply to imports
of a product that is the product of a country listed
in subdivision (d)(i) of Note 11 in the Annex to
this proclamation if subdivision (d)(ii) of such
Note indicates that such country's share of total
imports of the product exceeds 3 percent, or that
imports of the product from all listed countries
with less than 3 percent import share collectively
account for more than 9 percent of total imports
of the product. The USTR is authorized to determine
whether a surge in imports of a product that is
the product of a country listed in subdivision (d)(i)
undermines the effectiveness of the pertinent safeguard
measure and, if so, upon publication of a notice
in the Federal Register, to revise subdivision (d)
of Note 11 in the Annex to this proclamation to
indicate that such product from such country is
not excluded from such safeguard measure.
(5) Within 120 days after the date of this proclamation,
the USTR is authorized to further consider any request
for exclusion of a particular product submitted
in accordance with the procedures set out in 66
Fed. Reg. 54321, 54322-54323 (October 26, 2001)
and, upon publication in the Federal Register of
a notice of his finding that a particular product
should be excluded, to modify the HTS provisions
created by the Annex to this proclamation to exclude
such particular product from the pertinent safeguard
measure established by this proclamation.
(6) In March of each year in which any safeguard
measure established by this proclamation remains
in effect, the USTR is authorized, upon publication
in the Federal Register of a notice of his finding
that a particular product should be excluded, to
modify the HTS provisions created by the Annex to
this proclamation to exclude such particular product
from the pertinent safeguard measure established
by this proclamation.
(7) Any provision of previous proclamations and
Executive Orders that is inconsistent with the actions
taken in this proclamation is superseded to the
extent of such inconsistency.
(8) The modifications to the HTS made by this proclamation,
including the Annex hereto, shall be effective with
respect to goods entered, or withdrawn from warehouse
for consumption, on or after 12:01 a.m., EST, on
March 20, 2002, and shall continue in effect as
provided in the Annex to this proclamation, unless
such actions are earlier expressly reduced, modified,
or terminated. Effective at the close of March 21,
2006, or such other date that is 1 year from the
close of the safeguard measures established in this
proclamation, the U.S. note and tariff provisions
established in the Annex to this proclamation shall
be deleted from the HTS.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand
this fifth day of March, in the year of our Lord
two thousand two, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the two hundred and twenty-sixth.
GEORGE W. BUSH
|
