WASHINGTON—A top executive at Leggett&Platt testified before a Congressional committee here last week in support of stronger enforcement of U.S.trade laws.
Karl Glassman,Leggett's chief operating officer,spoke before a trade subcommittee of the U.S.House Committee on Ways and Means.In his presentation,he voiced concerns about the evasion of antidumping duties imposed by the U.S.government.
Karl Glassman
In late 2007,Leggett&Platt spearheaded an antidumping petition against innersprings made in China,Vietnam and South Africa that were coming into the market at unfairly low prices.
The government determined these prices were injuring innerspring manufacturers like L&P and imposed duties as high as 234%against Chinese manufacturers of these goods.The duties are assigned to the producers,but paid by importers of the merchandise.
Once these duties were in place,the company later determined that goods were being shipped from places like Hong Kong,Malaysia and Taiwan.It alleges that Chinese innerspring units,in particular,were being transshipped through these countries to evade duties.
"We have developed substantial and credible evidence that many of the exporters in these countries are involved in transshipment schemes and are actually shipping Chinese-produced innersprings to the U.S.,all of which should be covered by duties up to 234%,"Glassman said.He said the company estimates more than one million units illegally evade duties each year,which would represent some$50 million in duties that should be going into the U.S.Treasury.
In September 2009,Leggett and companies in four other industries formed the Coalition to Enforce Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Orders to address the issue and come up with solutions.Today,he said,the coalition includes 14 industries that collectively represent thousands of U.S.jobs.The group estimates that the U.S.government is losing out on$400 million in unpaid duties for just half of those industries.
"A survey across the wide range of industries with trade orders would undoubtedly yield a much,much larger number,"Glassman said.
While members of the coalition have met with and received encouragement from government and elected officials,he said more needs to be done to address duty evasion.He outlined several key steps,including prompt enforcement,use of all existing tools to combat duty evasion,and publicizing results to deter those who may try to evade duties.
"We must find a solution to this problem,"he said."Our laws must be promptly enforced,for the credibility of U.S.laws,for the credibility of our agencies and for the industries and their employees that have been injured by unfair imports.The alternative is unacceptable.The challenge of duty evasion is not about trade philosophy-it is about the enforcement of U.S.trade laws."