ts, the monopolistic mechanism that influences the stability of high prices in the home market, on export bounties, or on low import duties in the foreign market help maintain economic balance. Dumping disturbs those markets that receive dumped goods and it may drive local producers out of business. Governments may condone, even sponsor, dumping in other markets for political reasons and/or to achieve more favorable balance of payments. In the late 19th century, dumping became part of the trade policy of great European cartels, especially German cartels. Britain, France, Japan, and the United States have also practiced dumping. Canada first passed antidumping legislation in 1904. The United States in an effort to discourage dumping, imposed various tariff acts that dealt with different types of dumping; in particular the Emergency Tariff Act of 1921, imposed special duties on goods imported for sale at less than their fair value or cost of production. It was amended by the Customs Simplification Act of 1954. The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) prohibits dumping and provides for increased import duties to combat the practice (Columbia Encyclopedia, 1993).DUMPING IN THE 1990sThe dumping of steel products into the U.S. market has been going on throughout history. Nevertheless, it has become more prevalent during the 1990s. According To Robert J.Grow (1998), the first major shock of the 1990s came from the near total collapse of steel plate demand in the former Soviet Union and a concomitant surge in exports to the U.S. Fortunately, U.S. producers successfully challenged the dumping of plate into the U.S. market with trade cases filed in Nov. 1996. After findings of massive dumping margins and affirmative determinations of injury, the governments of Russia, Ukraine, and China reached suspension agreements that will reduce imports from these countries by 70 percent from 1996 levels of over 1 million tons. These count...
