Canada may raise tariffs on U.S. chemicals

Abstract

Chemicals and plastics dominate a list of U.S. products that Canada is considering for possible tariff increases. The move is in retaliation for a U.S. tax on imported oil that is used to raise revenue for the Superfund program. A dispute settlement panel of the General Agreement on Tariffs & Trade (GATT), the international body that sets the rules for most world trade, declared in 1987 that the controversial U.S. import tax was discriminatory because it hit imported products harder than it did domestic products. The Superfund tax on domestic oil, for instance, is 8.2 cents per barrel; on imported oil it is 11.7 cents. There also is a Superfund tax on imported petrochemical feedstock, but it is the same as that on domestic feedstock. So far, the U.S. hasn't changed its tax on imports. The Senate Finance Committee held hearings last month on the Superfund tax problem. Meanwhile, the ...