PERCENT PERCENT Figure 1 TRADE BARRIERS AGAINST FERROUS FASTENERS AVERAGE PERCENTAGES ASSESSED AGAINST VALUE *Japan has maximum nontariff barriers and maximum export incentives. No imports are permitted without special license. ** See Table III footnote. 46-127 O 70 pt. 13 13 2. HIGH TARIFF DUTIES IMPOSED United States manufacturers of industrial fasteners desire to export to the European Economic Community (EEC) countries, Great Britain, and Japan. Although these countries are not the only ones to which export sales must be developed, they are the principal markets to which this Statement can usefully pertain. Tariff duties in these markets impose a substantial burden on the United States exporter.3 Table II and Figure 2 illustrate the burden in ad valorem equivalences that the exporter must bear. Table II summarizes duties and taxes, by type of iron and steel fastener, imported into the markets under study. The EEC tariff duties range from 8 through 12 percent now and will diminish only 1 to 2 percentage points, from 7 through 11 percent, when the staged reduc tions under the Kennedy Round are over. United Kingdom duties now average 14 to 17 percent and will be reduced to 12 percent by January 1, 1972. Canadian duties range from 23.5 to 27.5 percent, exluding the recently enacted "free trade" for automotive production. Figure 2 compares in graph form the average tariffs assessed against the value of ferrous fasteners in the markets under study with the effect of low United States tariffs. Although the Kennedy Round, as President Johnson said, was a "great success," the present situation cannot be allowed to persist - a situation in which the tariffs of the other principal industrial-fastener consuming and producing nations are from 11⁄2 to more than 5 times higher than those of the United States. 3 Refer to the IFI's "Memorandum in Support of Elimination of Tariff and Trade Barriers Abroad Affecting Industrial Fasteners," in which Attachments 2 through 7 state in some detail the pre-Kennedy Round tariff schedules for fasteners in the Federal Republic of Germany, France, Italy, United Kingdom, Canada, and Japan. *All data relating to duties, sales taxes, purchase taxes, transmission taxes, turnover taxes, added value taxes, and compensatory taxes supplied by the U. S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of International Commerce. ** All sizes refer to diameters where applicable. 1. Percentages for rivets, bolts, nuts, and machine screws are ad valorem equivalents based upon dollar and weight in pounds of respective product imports to U. S. for month of April, 1967. Data supplied by the Trade Relations Council of New York City. 2. Percentages for wood screws are ad valorem equivalents based upon dollars and gross of wood screws imported into the U. S. in April 1967. Data supplied by the Trade Relations Council of New York City. 3. For bolts, nuts, and machine screws, the higher percentage is charged for all products whose value does not exceed 44 cents per hundred weight or 0.44 cents/pound. The lower percentage is applied to products exceeding a value of 0.44 cents/pound. |