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Eu may target texas citrus Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/7243146.htmhttp://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/7243146.htm
Posted on Wed, Nov. 12, 2003
Dispute could turn tart; EU may target Texas citrus
Associated Press
DALLAS - Texas' citrus industry stands to become one of the biggest losers of a trade conflict brewing between the United States and the European Union.
Texas red grapefruit could be one casualty if the EU raises tariffs in mid-December on $2.2 billion of U.S. exports to the 15-nation trading bloc, officials say.
"The higher tariffs would have a big impact on the citrus industry in Texas," said Ray Prewett, president of Texas Citrus Mutual, an industry trade organization. "It would really put us at a big competitive disadvantage."
The EU is threatening the tariff increases if the U.S. doesn't repeal duties on steel imported into the United States.
Half of the grapefruit juice that Texas growers produce gets shipped to Europe.
"It's a very large market for us," Prewett said in Wednesday's editions of The Dallas Morning News.
If the Bush administration doesn't repeal the U.S. steel duties or reach a settlement with the EU, these growers could see tariffs on their products jump to 27 percent from 12 percent.
That could leave U.S. consumers with a lot of extra grapefruit juice.
The tariffs, which went into effect in March 2002, were to last three years, giving the country's ailing steel industry time to become more competitive by restructuring and consolidating itself.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is reviewing a World Trade Organization report of U.S. duties violating trade rules but has given no indication of how it might react.
"We just want to see the tariffs stay in effect," said Lynda Minter, controller at Nucor Steel's only Texas mill in Jewett, which employs 350 workers southeast of Waco.
"Failure to uphold the steel safeguards would have a devastating impact, not only on the steel industry, but on all industries that depend on American trade law," said Dan DiMicco, Nucor's chief executive.
Grapefruit is just one item the EU is targeting.
Other products include fresh apples and pears, T-shirts and other garments, containers and, of course, steel.
On Monday, a WTO appeals panel upheld an earlier ruling that the U.S. duties violated trade rules.
The ruling essentially gives the EU and other nations the right to establish retaliatory tariffs.
Information from: The Dallas Morning News
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