[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 24 (Tuesday, March 7, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Page S1236]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. MOYNIHAN (for himself and Mr. Schumer):
  S. 2201. A bill to reliquidate certain entries of tomato sauce 
preparation; to the Committee on Finance.
  S. 2202. A bill to reliquidate certain entries of tomato sauce 
preparation; to the Committee on Finance.


                       miscellaneous tariff bills

  Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce two bills that 
temporarily suspend duties on certain imports of goods not produced in 
the United States and five bills to reliquidate specific entries of 
vanadium and tomato sauce preparations.
  The first bill will temporarily suspend the duty on imports of silica 
substrate. Silica substrates are produced only in Japan and imported 
for use in the domestic production of semiconductors. Currently, 
semiconductors enter the United States duty-free while imports of 
silica substrate are subject to a 4.9 per cent duty. As a result of 
this tariff inversion, there is a competitive imbalance which favors 
foreign production of semiconductors. My bill would extend the current 
suspension on duties of silica substrates until 2004.
  The second bill will temporarily suspend the duty on imports of an 
environmentally friendly chemical paint additive. The product safely 
replaces mercury-based chemicals (which were banned a number of years 
ago) used in ``anti-fouling'' boat paint, intended to prevent fouling 
of underwater structures. It is also the only EPA-registered algicide 
for use in the architectural paint market. There is no known production 
of this chemical in the United States.
  The third bill reliquidates thirty-seven entries of vanadium carbide 
and vanadium carbonitride. Vanadium is used primarily as a 
strengthening agent in steel and can only be imported from South 
Africa. The bill seeks to recover duties paid since July 1, 1998, the 
original date of a competitive need limit waiver by USTR, through 
December 23, 1999, when the waiver actually took effect.
  The final four bills seek to reliquidate entries of canned tomatoes, 
used to prepare tomato sauce, by four separate companies. The imports 
were incorrectly subjected to 100 percent ad valorem retaliatory duties 
beginning in 1989 due to a Harmonized Tariff Schedule 
misclassification; the retaliation stemmed from a GATT case against the 
European Union. Treliquidation covers entries not originally included 
in a decision by the Court of International Trade, which ruled the 
products had been incorrectly classified and were, therefore, not 
subject to the retaliatory duties.
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