US Department Of Commerce Strengthens US Trade Law

On August 26, 2010, the U.S. government announced a plan to strengthen dumping And other unfair foreign trade activities.

The US Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke issued a statement saying: "The Obama administration promises to actively strengthen the US trade law to ensure that American companies and their employees can access a fair 'arena' - this is the engine of US economic growth. The plan announced today also further demonstrates our continued efforts to strengthen trade enforcement tools."

According to the statement released by the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Department has formulated 14 proposals to combat illegal import activities and require all parties concerned to pay any tariffs in full. The statement pointed out that the process of adopting the plan will start later this year, and said that the plan is especially aimed at countries whose markets will be controlled by the government.

A senior official of the Ministry of Commerce said in an interview that the purpose of this plan is to enhance the effectiveness of US trade protection measures "in a series of fields". The official said: "This process will be completed this autumn."

US President Barack- Obama In the State of the Union speech delivered in January 2010, the US government set a goal of doubling exports in the next five years to stimulate employment growth. The plan announced today is one of the measures taken to achieve this goal. The Obama administration said that doubling exports would help create 2 million new jobs.

Dan Dimico, CEO of Nucor, the largest U.S. steelmaker, said: "This is a very important move for the U.S. government." Dimico is also a member of the Government's Advisory Committee on Manufacturing Affairs. He said that the plan announced today by the Ministry of Commerce conforms to the recommendations of the committee.

Ronald Lorentsen, the assistant secretary in charge of import management of the US Department of Commerce, also said that this plan would bring "a more positive feeling to US companies that their wounds caused by unfair trade activities will be healed".

According to the estimation of the U.S. Department of Commerce, in 2008, the employment of the export industry accounted for 7% of the total employment in the United States and one-third of the total employment in the manufacturing industry. Ministry of Commerce Data shows that from January to April 2010, US exports increased by 17% over the same period last year.