Import Fees

Europe's second-highest court rejected multimillion-dollar compensation claims by the world's two largest banana companies against European Union banana tariffs and ordered them to pay costs. The companies, Chiquita Brands International Inc. and Dole Food Co., had sought compensation at the Court of First Instance. Although the amount of Dole's claim is confidential, Chiquita had wanted the European Commission to pay 564 million euros ($733.2 million), plus interest at an annual 8% rate.

The European Union announced Friday that it was prepared to end penalty sanctions on $4-billion worth of American exports to Europe. However, EU officials warned they could reimpose some of the tariffs if a dispute was not resolved over a U.S. law that showers $136 billion in new tax breaks on companies. Anthony Gooch, spokesman for the EU in Washington, said a key panel of the Council of the European Union had approved a measure to withdraw the sanctions.

The Bush administration gave notice that it would pursue an unfair-trade case accusing the 25-nation European Union of operating a confusing tariff system that harms the ability of U.S. exporters to make sales. The administration alerted the Geneva-based World Trade Organization that it wanted a hearing panel formed after failing to resolve differences in negotiations with the EU. The office of U.S. Trade Representative Robert B.

U.S. shrimp farmers won a yearlong effort to justify tariffs on shrimp from six nations after the U.S. International Trade Commission issued a final ruling saying the American seafood industry had been harmed by a surge in imports. The 6-0 vote was the fourth and final ruling needed to proceed with a program of tariffs on as much as $2.7 billion a year in shrimp imports from China, Brazil, Ecuador, India, Thailand and Vietnam.

Florida orange growers and juice makers asked the federal government Monday to impose tariffs on Brazilian processors, accusing them of selling orange juice in the U.S. at unfair prices. The Florida growers and processors also asked the U.S. International Trade Commission and the Commerce Department to conduct an investigation into the pricing practices of four juice producers. The agencies are likely to make a decision in the coming months.

The World Trade Organization backed a complaint by the South Korean government that U.S. tariffs on Hynix Semiconductor Inc.'s computer chips violate global trade rules, a U.S. trade official said. The U.S. failed to prove that Hynix, the world's third-biggest memory chip maker, got an unfair state subsidy when South Korean banks gave the company loan guarantees and rollovers in 2002, Geneva-based arbiters said in a confidential ruling. The U.S.

China will impose tariffs on some textile exports in a move that may ease concerns by the United States and others over a flood of Chinese goods on world markets after a global quota system expires at year's end. The move, reported by state media today, was one of eight measures announced by the Commerce Ministry to help the industry adjust smoothly to freer trade.

A U.S. trade panel Friday approved anti-dumping duties of up to 198% on $1.2 billion worth of wooden bedroom furniture from China. The U.S. International Trade Commission voted 6 to 0 to declare that low-priced imports from China were a threat to domestic producers. The action clears the way for the Commerce Department to issue a final anti-dumping order on the imports by the end of the year. China has complained that the duties violate World Trade Organization rules. The case was the largest U.

The Bush administration on Tuesday upheld the imposition of penalty tariffs on shrimp imports from China and Vietnam, handing a victory to beleaguered U.S. shrimp producers. The action affirmed with slight modifications a preliminary ruling by the Commerce Department's International Trade Administration last summer. The penalty tariffs have been collected by border agents since July.

The World Trade Organization on Friday cleared the way for punitive sanctions on a variety of U.S. exports after Washington failed to repeal a corporate subsidy the WTO declared illegal two years ago. Although expected, the WTO ruling was seen as a setback for U.S. trade policy. A variety of American exports to some of the nation's biggest trading partners -- including the European Union -- could face new duties as a result of the decision.