[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 8 (Monday, February 28, 2000)]
[Pages 344-345]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7274--To Facilitate Positive Adjustment to Competition From 
Imports of Certain Circular Welded Carbon Quality Line Pipe

February 18, 2000

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    1. On December 22, 1999, the United States International Trade 
Commission (USITC) transmitted to the President an 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 certain circular welded carbon quality line pipe (line pipe) 
provided for in subheadings 7306.10.10 and 7306.10.50 of the Harmonized 
Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS). The USITC determined that 
line pipe is being imported in such increased quantities as to be a 
substantial cause of serious injury or the threat of serious injury to 
the domestic industry producing a like or directly competitive article.
    2. Pursuant to section 311(a) of the North American Free Trade 
Agreement Implementation Act (the ``NAFTA Implementation Act'') (19 
U.S.C. 3371(a)), the USITC made negative findings with respect to 
imports of line pipe from Mexico and Canada. The USITC also transmitted 
to the President its recommendations made pursuant to section 202(e) of 
the Trade Act (19 U.S.C. 2252(e)) with respect to the action that would 
address the serious injury or threat thereof to the domestic industry 
and be most effective in facilitating the efforts of the domestic 
industry to make a positive adjustment to import 
competition.
    3.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). Pursuant to section 312(a) of the 
NAFTA Implementation Act (19 U.S.C. 3372(a)), I have determined that 
imports of line pipe from Mexico, considered individually, do not 
contribute importantly to the serious injury, or threat of serious 
injury, found by the USITC, and that imports from Canada, considered 
individually, do not contribute importantly to such injury or threat. 
Accordingly, pursuant to section 312(b) of the NAFTA Implementation Act 
(19 U.S.C. 3372(b)), I have excluded line pipe the product of Mexico or 
Canada from the action I am taking under section 203 of the Trade Act.
    4. Such action shall take the form of an increase in duty on imports 
of certain line pipe provided for in HTS subheadings 7306.10.10 and 
7306.10.50, imposed for a period of 3 years plus 1 day, with the first 
9,000 short tons of imports that are the product of each supplying 
country excluded from the increased duty during each year that this 
action is in effect, and with annual reductions in the rate of duty in 
the second and third years, as provided for in the Annex to this 
proclamation.
    5. Except for products of Mexico and Canada, which shall be excluded 
from this action, the increase in duty shall apply to imports of line 
pipe from all 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 this 
action will facilitate efforts by the domestic industry to make a 
positive adjustment to import competition and provide greater economic 
and social benefits than costs.
    6. 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, do proclaim that:
    (1) In order to establish an increase in duty on imports of certain 
line pipe classified in HTS subheadings 7306.10.10 and 7306.10.50, 
subchapter III of chapter 99 of the HTS is modified as provided in the 
Annex to this proclamation.

[[Page 345]]

    (2) Such imported line pipe that is the product of Mexico or of 
Canada shall not be subject to the increase in duty established by this 
proclamation.
    (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 line pipe 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 line 
pipe 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 
line pipe 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 line pipe 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 increase in duty to those products, as 
specified in the Annex to this proclamation.
    (4) Effective at the close of March 1, 2003, or at the close of the 
date that 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.
    (5) Effective at the close of March 1, 2004, or such other date that 
is 1 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.
    (6) 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.
    (7) 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 eighteenth 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

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 10:50 a.m., February 22, 
2000]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on 
February 23. This item was not received in time for publication in the 
appropriate issue.