| WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- A national group of independent
bakers are urging Congress to reject a proposal to impose high import
tariffs on certain sugar syrup imports.
In a letter delivered to Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott and other
congressional leaders, the president of the Independent Bakers Association
said imposing such a tariff would violate the General Agreement on Tariffs
and Trade.
"The...(agreement) removed the President's authority to impose new
tariff rate quotas on imports from other World Trade Organization member
countries," wrote Robert N. Pyle, IBA president.
Sen. John Breaux, R-La., has offered legislation that would subject
certain sugar syrup imports to stiff duties.
The bill is aimed at a small Michigan company, Heartland By-Products,
that has been importing sugar syrup from Canada outside the high duties
imposed under the U.S. tariff-rate quota.
The company received a ruling by the U.S. Customs Service in 1995 that
allows it to import the sugar syrup without paying the stiff duties and to
extract the sugar from the mixture once in the U.S.
This has angered the U.S. sugar industry, which says Heartland's
practice is unfair because it circumvents U.S. sugar import policy and
contributes to the instability of sugar prices.
Last week, 18 U.S. senators from sugar-producing states urged Lott in a
letter to insert the provision in one of the final bills making its way
through Congress and to approve it.
But the IBA, which consists of 400 family-owned bakeries who produce
more than half the bread baked in the U.S., said the legislation
"would adversely affect U.S. sweetener markets" and hamper
bakers' ability to remain competitive.
In recent days, the Chocolate Manufacturers Association, the National
Confectioners Association, and the Consumer Federation of America also
voiced opposition to the legislation.
Heartland says it has followed the law and if stiff duties were
imposed, the company would have to shut down permanently. |