THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
TO FACILITATE POSITIVE ADJUSTMENT TO COMPETITION
FROM IMPORTS OF CERTAIN STEEL WIRE ROD
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION
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, do proclaim that:
(1) In order to establish a tariff-rate quota on imports of steel wire rod (other than excluded products), classified in HTS subheadings 7213.91, 7213.99, 7227.20 and 7227.90.60, subchapter III of chapter 99 of the HTS is modified as provided in the Annex to this proclamation.
(2) Such imported steel wire rod that is the product of Mexico or of Canada 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) I hereby suspend, pursuant to section 503(c)(1) of the Trade Act (19 U.S.C. 2463(c)(1)), duty-free treatment for steel wire rod the product of beneficiary countries under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) (Title V of the Trade Act, as amended (19 U.S.C. 2461-2467)); pursuant to section 213(e)(1) of the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act, as amended (CBERA) (19 U.S.C. 2703(e)(1)), duty-free treatment for steel wire rod the product of beneficiary countries under that Act (19 U.S.C. 2701-2707); pursuant to section 204(d)(1) of the Andean Trade Preference Act, as amended (ATPA) (19 U.S.C. 3203(d)(1)), duty-free treatment for steel wire rod the product of beneficiary countries under that Act (19 U.S.C. 3201-3206); and pursuant to section 403(a) of the Trade and Tariff Act of 1984 (19 U.S.C. 2112 note), duty-free treatment for steel wire rod the product of Israel under the United States-Israel Free Trade Area Implementation Act of 1985 (the "IFTA Act") (19 U.S.C. 2112 note), to the extent necessary to apply the tariff-rate quota to those products, as specified in the Annex to this proclamation.
(4) During each of the first three quarters of a quota year, any articles subject to the tariff-rate quota that are entered, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, in excess of one-third of the annual within-quota quantity for that quota year (as specified in the Annex to this proclamation) shall be subject to the over-quota rate of duty then in effect. During the fourth quarter of a quota year, any articles subject to the tariff-rate quota that are entered, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, in excess of the remaining quantity of the annual within-quota quantity for that quota year shall be subject to the over-quota rate of duty then in effect. The remaining quantity shall be determined by subtracting the total quantity of goods entered at the in-quota rate during the first three quarters of the quota year from the annual within-quota quantity for that quota year.
(5) Effective at the close of March 1, 2003, or at the close of the date which may earlier be proclaimed by the President as the termination of the import relief set forth in the Annex to this proclamation, the suspension of duty-free treatment under the GSP, the CBERA, the ATPA and the IFTA Act shall terminate, unless otherwise provided in such later proclamation, and qualifying goods the product of beneficiary countries or of Israel entered under such programs shall again be eligible for duty-free treatment.
(6) Effective at the close of March 1, 2004, or such other date that is one year from the close of this relief, the U.S. note and tariff provisions established in the Annex to this proclamation shall be deleted from the HTS.
(7) 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.
(8) 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 March 1, 2000, 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 sixteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord two thousand, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty-fourth.
WILLIAM J. CLINTON
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