Japan's Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Shoichi Nakagawa expressed concern Tuesday that the country's planned imposition of countervailing duties on US steel products could further strain Japan-US relations, already affected by Japan's import ban on US beef over mad cow disease.

"I believe the countervailing tariff itself would not affect the bilateral ties. But when the issue is combined with the BSE row, I hope there will be no negative impact on the relations," Nakagawa said at a press conference. BSE stands for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, the medical term for mad cow disease.

On Monday, Japan decided to impose retaliatory levies on US ball bearings and other steel products from Sept. 1, in response to a US antidumping law which violates global trade rules.

Japan will slap a 15 percent levy on 15 product items from the United States, including seven types of ball bearings and three other types of steel products. It will be the first time for Japan to take a retaliatory measure against any trading partner.

Nakagawa expressed hope at the news conference that the United States will move to scrap the law, known as the Byrd Amendment, as soon as possible. "The abolishment would contribute to fair trade, " he said.

The Byrd Amendment allows antidumping duties collected by the US government to be shared with domestic industries to help offset damage from cheap imports.

The World Trade Organization ruled in January 2003 that the US legislation violates world trade rules, after complaints were filed by 11 economies, including Japan, the European Union and Canada. Last November, the WTO gave approval for Japan and seven other economies to take retaliatory measures.

Japan and the United States have been in dispute over Japan's ban on American beef imports, which has been in place since December 2003, when the first US case of mad cow disease was reported.

Source: Xinhua