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- U.S. rules out penalty tariffs on more imports from China for now
Date: 19-Apr-2007 Sources: (Xinhua Online)
The United States has ruled out imposing anti-subsidy tariff on a wider range of Chinese imports for the time being, a U.S. trade official said on Wednesday.
'I don't want to downplay the significance of our decision two weeks ago, but we're not considering any cases for any other sectors at this time,' David Spooner, assistant secretary of commerce, told reporters at the end of his two-day China visit.
As a result of a U.S. paper manufacturer's complaint that Chinese companies were receiving improper subsidies, the U.S. Commerce Department on March 30 announced its preliminary decision to impose penalty tariffs ranging from 10.9 percent to 20.4 percent on coated free sheet paper.
The move reversed 23 years of U.S. trade policy by treating China, which is classified as a non-market economy, the same as other U.S. trading partners in disputes involving government subsidies.
Spooner was the first U.S. trade official to visit China after the U.S. announced its anti-subsidy tariff decision.
He said he was in China to explain the reason behind the U.S. move.
'It would be divorced from reality if we said that there is an absence of market forces in China and that companies didn't respond to subsidies,' he said.
Although he said Beijing didn't 'wholly agree' with the U.S. position, he characterized his discussions with Chinese officials as 'positive, productive and constructive'.
During his two-day stay in Beijing, Spooner met with senior officials of the Chinese Commerce Department.
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