NEWS OF THE WEEK INTERNATIONAL
TRADE
WTO OKAYS TARIFFS AGAINST U.S. GOODS Punitive tariffs would respond to the Byrd amendment
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Robert C. Byrd (D-WVa.). The U.S., like other governments, collects duties from foreign firms that it determines are dumpingselling goods at below-market prices. Most countries deposit this money into their national coffers, but the Byrd amendment requires the government to give the funds to the U.S. companies that complained about the dumping. Chemical companies collected about $1 million of the $190 million distributed in 2003 under the Byrd amendment. U.S. manufacturers of chemicals received a total of $21 million of Byrd amendment disbursements
HE WORLD TRADE ORGANI-
zation(WTO)onNov26 cleared the way for seven major trading partners to begin collecting millions of dollars in punitive tariffs against the U.S. If instituted, those tariffs will affect U.S.-made chemicals and plastics exported to Japan and detergents shipped to South Korea. The action comes in a challenge to a U.S. law named the Byrd amendment after its sponsor, Sen.
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TOXICOLOGY
BENZENE'S LOW BLOW Pollutant is toxic to human blood cells at levels lower than U.S. standard
IN THE AIR Workers at Chinese shoe factories who breathe benzene have fewer white blood cells than clothing workers.
B
ENZENE CAN DAMAGE Human blood cells even when inhaled at levels below the U.S. workplace exposure limit of 1 ppm over eight hours, evidence
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