This is historical material, "frozen in time." The web site is no longer updated and links to external web sites and some internal pages will not work.
Office of the Press Secretary
(Rapid City, South Dakota)
________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release July 7, 1999
TO FACILITATE POSITIVE ADJUSTMENT TO COMPETITION
FROM IMPORTS OF LAMB MEAT
- - - - - - -
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION
On April 5, 1999, the United States International Trade
Commission (USITC) transmitted to the President a unanimous affirmative
determination in its investigation under section 202 of the Trade Act of
1974, as amended (the "Trade Act") (19 U.S.C. 2252), with respect to
imports of fresh, chilled, or frozen lamb meat, provided for in heading
0204 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS).
Under section 202 of the Trade Act, the USITC determined that such lamb
meat is being imported into the United States in such increased
quantities as to be a substantial cause of the threat of serious injury
to the domestic industry producing a like or directly competitive
article. Further, the USITC, pursuant to section 311(a) of the North
American Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act (the "NAFTA
Implementation Act") (19 U.S.C. 3371(a)), made negative findings with
respect to imports of lamb meat from Canada and Mexico. The USITC also
transmitted to the President its recommendation made pursuant to section
202(e) of the Trade Act with respect to the action that would address
the threat of serious injury to the domestic industry and be most
effective in facilitating the efforts of the domestic industry to make a
positive adjustment to import competition.
Pursuant to section 203 of the Trade Act (19 U.S.C. 2253), and
after taking into account the considerations specified in section
203(a)(2) of the Trade Act, I have determined to implement action of a
type described in section 203(a)(3). However, pursuant to section
312(a) of the NAFTA Implementation Act (19 U.S.C. 3372(a)), I have
determined that imports from Canada and Mexico, considered individually,
do not account for a substantial share of total imports and do not
contribute importantly to the threat of serious injury found by the
USITC. Accordingly, pursuant to section 312(b) of the NAFTA
Implementation Act (19 U.S.C. 3372(b)), I have excluded lamb meat the
product of Canada or Mexico from the action I am taking under section
203 of the Trade Act.
Such action shall take the form of a tariff-rate quota on imports
of fresh, chilled, or frozen lamb meat, provided for in HTS subheadings
0204.10.00, 0204.22.20, 0204.23.20, 0204.30.00, 0204.42.20, and
0204.43.20, imposed for a period of 3 years plus 1 day, with annual
increases in the within-quota quantities in the second and third years,
as provided for in the annex to this proclamation.
Except for products of Canada, Mexico, Israel, beneficiary
countries under the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act (CBERA) and
the Andean Trade Preference Act (ATPA), and other developing countries
that have accounted for a minor share of lamb meat imports, which shall
all be excluded from this restriction, such tariff-rate quota shall
apply to imports of lamb meat from all other countries and the in-quota
quantity in each year shall be allocated among such countries. Pursuant
to section 203(a)(1)(A) of the Trade Act (19 U.S.C. 2253(a)(1)(A)), I
have further determined that these actions will facilitate efforts by
the domestic industry to make a positive adjustment to import
competition and provide greater economic and social benefits than costs.
Section 604 of the Trade Act, as amended (19 U.S.C. 2483),
authorizes the President to embody in the HTS the substance of the
relevant provisions of that Act, and of other acts affecting import
treatment, and actions thereunder, including the removal, modification,
continuance, or imposition of any rate of duty or other import
restriction.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the United States
of America, acting under the authority vested in me by the Constitution
and the laws of the United States of America, including but not limited
to sections 203 and 604 of the Trade Act, and section 301 of title 3,
United States Code, do proclaim that:
(1) In order to establish a tariff-rate quota on imports of fresh,
chilled, or frozen lamb meat classified in HTS subheadings 0204.10.00,
0204.22.20, 0204.23.20, 0204.30.00, 0204.42.20, and 0204.43.20,
subchapter III of chapter 99 of the HTS is modified as provided in the
annex to this proclamation.
(2) Such imported lamb meat that is the product of Canada, Mexico,
Israel, and of beneficiary countries under the CBERA and the ATPA, and
of developing countries listed in general note 4(a) to the HTS, shall be
excluded from the tariff-rate quota established by this proclamation,
and such imports shall not be counted toward the tariff-rate quota
limits that trigger the over-quota rates of duty.
(3) In the event that a quota quantity established by this
proclamation and allocated to a country or to "other countries" is
significantly underutilized, the United States Trade Representative is
authorized to reallocate all or part of the unfilled portion of such
quota quantity to any other country or countries and, upon publication
of notice in the Federal Register, to modify the HTS provisions created
by the annex to this proclamation to reflect any such reallocation.
(4) Any provisions of previous proclamations and Executive orders
that are inconsistent with the actions taken in this proclamation are
superseded to the extent of such inconsistency.
(5) The modifications to the HTS made by this proclamation, including
the annex hereto, shall be effective with respect to goods entered, or
withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after 12:01 a.m. e.d.t.
on July 22, 1999, and shall continue in effect as provided in the annex
to this proclamation, unless such actions are earlier expressly modified
or terminated.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this seventh day of
July, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-nine, and of
the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and
twenty-fourth.