DOHA, Nov 10: The United States refused on Saturday to lay down its anti-dumping weapon hotly disputed by an array of trading partners including Japan to expand global trade.

Repeated US reprisals against imports it deems to be excessively cheap or harmful to its industry have unleashed a furious reaction overseas, particularly the Japanese steel makers.

But US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick told partners in the 142-member World Trade Organization meeting here that such measures were critical to maintaining support for free trade at home.

The US public is deeply sceptical about the value of trade liberalization, and Zoellick said he risked losing its support if the WTO restricted the use of anti-dumping measures against unfairly priced imports and countervailing duties for subsidised imports.

WTO negotiators are seeking to bridge deep rifts and draw up an agenda for a new round of talks to lower the barriers to trade across national boundaries worldwide.

A draft WTO declaration for the five-day meeting here, which ends Tuesday, calls for “clarifying and improving disciplines” in the use of anti-dumping meausures widely seen as an attempt to clamp down on the growing recourse to such reprisals.

As you know, we are disatisifed by the text on WTO rules, Zoellick said.

International trade rules had been designed to ensure countries could not undermine trade liberalization, he said.

The rules on anti-dumping and countervailing duties serve that purpose, Zoellick said in a speech to his WTO partners.

Given the relative openness of the US market, support for further trade liberalization depends on our ability to ensure that a bargain on market access is not undercut by foreign subsidies or other trade-distorting practices, he added.

Therefore, it is essential that any possible work in this area discipline the unfair practices themselves, not just the rules for countering them.

Japan, still wounded by a US ruling against its steel industry last month, insisted however on negotiations to limit the use of anti-dumping measures.

In order to complement trade liberalization and safeguard the achievements resulting from such liberalization, it is imperative to work for necessary clarification and improvement of the rules on anti-dumping, Japanese Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Takeo Hiranuma told the conference plenary.

We should bear in mind that a vast majority of members already support this position.

But Zoellick said any negotiations on anti-dumping should first focus on improving the practices of other countries that had recently started to wield the same anti-dumping weapon.

The United States complains that many countries are now beginning to apply anti-dumping measures against trading partners without a clear mechanism to back their decisions.

A US trade panel ruled October 22 that many foreign steel imports were hurting US steel makers, raising the prospect of countervailing duties and triggering dismay among foreign steel makers including Japan, which blamed a weak US industry for its own woes.—AFP