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Politics : HOWARD DEAN -THE NEXT PRESIDENT? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mephisto who wrote (855)	12/7/2003 12:43:47 PM
From: Eashoa' M'sheekha	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 3079

Florida broke Bush's steel resolve. Florida is Bush's achillies Heel here Mephisto.Between Cuba and the embargo and the threat of retaliation from the EU against Florida's agricultural enterprise,Bush has shown his weakness for all the World to see. Now,if you do a search for articles referencing this decision,you will find it largely published in most foreign news,yet in America,it got little mention,except for CNN. How's THAT for controlling the press! HA! International and electoral politics swayed his decision, LEON HADAR reports from Washington WHY did US President George W Bush do an about-turn and lift American tariffs on imported steel on Thursday? White House officials spun his decision as reflecting economic considerations as well as demonstrating that the Bush administration is willing to abide by its own free-trade rhetoric. The tariffs, covering a wide range of steel products from several Asian and European nations, were originally scheduled to remain in effect for three years until 2005 - to give US steel-makers time to modernise their facilities to better compete against foreign competitors. But Mr Bush said on Thursday he was changing course because he had already fulfilled his promise to grant the industry time to adjust. He also stressed that Washington is committed to free trade principles - competing freely with the rest of the world. And he insisted that he had succeeded in 'giving relief to the workers and communities that depend on steel for their jobs and livelihoods'. After Mr Bush imposed tariffs ranging from 8 to 30 per cent on steel imports in March 2002, the European Union (EU) and others said the move broke international trade rules and lodged a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO). And less than a month ago, the WTO's highest court ruled that the steel tariffs violated global trade laws, opening the way for member nations to retaliate with billions of dollars in punitive tariffs against US products. Indeed, the EU warned it would slap US$2.2 billion in sanctions on American products, starting mid-December, unless the US scrapped its duties on steel imports. Japan and South Korea, also major steel exporters, said they too were considering retaliation. US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick stressed yesterday that the president made an 'independent decision' to lift the tariffs, and suggested the WTO ruling and EU threats had only limited impact on the White House's move. Mr Zoellick and other aides also rejected the notion that any of Mr Bush's moves on steel tariffs were influenced by electoral considerations. The only concern on the president's mind, his aides said, was the interests of the hard-working American steel workers. Still, to soften the impact of tariff removal, Mr Bush pledged several measures designed to protect American steel manufacturers from a flood of cheaper imports. These measures included expanding an import licensing and monitoring system to help head off surges in shipments of foreign steel to the US. Furthermore, the administration pledged aggressive application of US anti-dumping laws to impose tariffs on specific steel products should those imports surge once tariffs are lifted. The Bush administration also vowed to continue pressing America's trading partners to reduce government subsidies for their domestic steel producers and to curb over-capacity and over-production. 'I strongly believe that America's workers can compete with anyone in the world as long as we have a fair and level playing field,' Mr Bush said. But it is apparent that in the same way the original decision to impose tariffs on imported steel was driven by political considerations, so was the decision this week to lift them. Mr Bush narrowly won the 2000 election after winning two states - Ohio and West Virginia - where the steel industry has a large presence. Indeed, some analysts speculated that Democratic candidate Al Gore could have won West Virginia - and the 2000 White House race - had then-president Bill Clinton taken steps to protect the steel industry before the election. Hence, by protecting the US steel industry through duties, Mr Bush was seen as being able to safeguard his electoral position in the battleground steel-producing states of West Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania during his re-election campaign in 2004. What changed those calculations were last month's WTO ruling and the EU threat to retaliate against the US. As part of a clever strategy to influence the White House, Brussels made it clear that its targets for retaliation would be critical industries in those states in the South and the Midwest that Mr Bush must win next year to be re-elected. One of those states for European retaliation was Florida and its flourishing agricultural industry. And Florida, with its large number of electoral votes, is expected to become the key electoral battleground in 2004, in the same way it was in 2000. Moreover, the steel tariffs were also hurting Mr Bush politically in states like Michigan with its large steel-consuming companies, including car-makers, which include some of the most powerful financial backers of the Republican party. At the same time, there were no indications that the steel workers union was planning to support Mr Bush's re-election in exchange for continuing tariffs on steel. In short, based on quite simple cost-effective political calculations, Mr Bush's aides concluded that refusal to lift the steel tariffs would hurt his re-election efforts more than a decision to remove those duties. Or to put it differently, the policy-makers in Brussels figured out how to play the political game in Washington, and as a result, to transform Mr Bush - at least for one day - into a multilateralist