American direct marketers, caught in the middle of a trade war between the U.S. and the European Union over banana import quotas, began paying higher tariffs Wednesday, on selected European imports ranging from Scotch-made woolens and Irish linens to Italian cheese and German-made coffee makers.
The Clinton Administration ordered the import duty on those and other items doubled the day after the World Trade Organization’s trade dispute panel said it needed more time to resolve the U.S.-EU dispute.
Until the panel issues its decision, direct marketers and others will have to post bonds and assume liability for paying the higher import tax.
Ambassador Peter Scher, Special U.S. Trade Negotiator in Washington, said the delay in collecting the new tariffs will “prevent surges in imports” from Europe while allowing the WTO panel to complete its work.
Scher was unable to say how much of an effect the tariff doubling would have on direct marketers and catalogers who offer an array of European-made goods, citing their “obligation to U.S. industries and the Congress to protect our [trade] rights” for the action.
Meanwhile, in Geneva, EU Trade Minister Sir Leon Brittan blasted the U.S. for defying the WTO system “by introducing a form of sanctions which has no WTO authorization [and] therefore is unacceptable and unlawful.”
He refused to indicate the EU’s next move or speculate on the possibility of it taking any legal action either in U.S. courts or before the World Court.
The dispute broke out last fall after the EU severely limited the amount of bananas U.S.-owned companies could send to Europe without imposing the same limitations on European-based companies.
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