§ 33. Mr. Barry Jonesasked the Minister of State for Trade if he will make a statement on the dispute between the United States of America and the United Kingdom and other European Economic Community countries over the import and export of steel.
§ Mr. Peter ReesOn 11 June the United States Department of Commerce announced preliminary findings of subsidy against certain steel imports from a number of companies in countries, including the United Kingdom, which are subject to countervailing complaints. These investigations continue as do a number of parallel dumping investigations being carried on by the United States authorities.
The Government and our European partners regard the filing of these complaints as a protectionist act and have protested strongly to the United States authorities about them and about the methods employed by the Department of Commerce in computing subsidy. In the meantime the European Commission has referred this matter to the GATT subsidies committee.