EU extends trade sanctions on US imports

The new sanctions will bring the total amount of the punitive tariff payments incurred on US imports in the last year to $36.9 million.

The EU decided on Monday to impose retaliatory sanctions worth $9.1 million on imports from the US which had adopted anti-dumping measures to protect its domestic companies.

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The new sanctions will bring the total amount of the punitive tariff payments incurred on US imports in the last year to $36.9 million, up from $27.8 million in the previous 12-month period, said a statement issued by the European Commission.

The punitive 15 per cent additional import duty would cover eight new products, including different types of blankets, paper products, photocopying apparatus and drills, according to the EU executive body.

EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson justified the new move on the grounds that it would counter an increase in the disbursement to US companies of duties collected from EU products under the so-called Byrd Amendment in 2005.

The Byrd amendment, approved in 2000, was ruled illegal by the Geneva-based World Trade Organisation in 2002.

Although the US House of Representatives approved a budget bill in February to repeal the disputed trade law in October 2007, the US government payments to American companies are scheduled to continue for two more years, raising protests from the EU.