Word: surtax
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Apart from these difficulties, manufacturers have had trouble buying enough double knit machinery; practically all of it is made in Europe, especially West Germany, and orders have to be placed many months in advance. This problem has been aggravated by President Nixon's import surtax. Ironically, the most promising sector of the staunchly protectionist textile industry is now being forced to pay at least 10% more for its new equipment because of the Administration's protectionist measures...
...high-stakes game of international money. Publicly, at least, the Secretary of the Treasury refused to soften the Nixon Administration's economic moves, which have upset and unsettled the trading world. Foreigners were increasingly angered by what they perceived to be brutally nationalistic U.S. policies-the 10% surtax on most imports, the proposed "buy American" investment credit at home, and the demand that other nations revalue their currencies upward against the dollar. A Canadian diplomat complained in Ottawa: "America seems to have acted without considering the wider implications, without a clear plan or purpose for the future...
Whatever level it finally sets, the Senate would be well advised to eliminate right now the provision of the new investment credit that bans foreign-made machinery from qualifying for the tax break. That rule is supposed to be dropped when Nixon removes the 10% surtax on all imported goods. But the protectionist rule, which has the effect of adding to the price of non-American capital goods above and beyond the increases brought about by the surcharge and monetary changes, is already fiercely resented abroad and with good reason. In the past, U.S. trade officials have registered strong opposition...
...Until last week, Connally had indicated that the U.S. intended to turn its chronic balance of payments deficit into a surplus-and was prepared to use its economic weapons, notably the 10% surtax on imports, for as long as it took to accomplish the goal. But at the IMF meeting, Connally dropped the requirement that the U.S. must be in the black before it would scrap the surtax. Instead, he said at a press conference, what was needed was "assurances that a formula and procedure is agreed on that will rectify" the U.S. imbalance. The U.S. will chuck the surcharge...
...Connally has thus far refused to say precisely what bars must be lowered before the U.S. will drop the surtax, for the gamesmanlike reason that he wants other nations to make the first offer. Clearly, any progress in eliminating these barriers depends on how reasonably both sides define "tangible" concessions. Although far more conciliatory than before, Connally still sought leverage wherever he could find it. According to a Canadian version, he approached Finance Minister Edgar Benson at one point and drawled: "The Europeans and Japanese are ganging up on us, and we North Americans have to stick together...