Saturday, May 14, 2011

When reading the following brief report on Whirlpool activities keep in mind:

--Rep. Fred Upton, heir to Whirlpool, was a sponsor of NAFTA.

--Upton is one of the wealthiest reps. in congress and therefore has a lot of power (to influence the 5 to 0 vote reported in this article.)

--Antitrust law was out the window while Whirlpool gobbled 72% of the domestic market through product and brand acquisition. Now they're demanding protection FROM the law via tariffs on foreign manufacturers to protect domestic jobs? The majority of which they continue to EXPORT?

--The motivation here is to tax these two companies so prices of their products are driven up in the US - Whirlpool products will have less competition as a result.

--Of course, Whirlpool can still sell appliances world-wide without tariffs (taxes).


US rules imports harm Whirlpool’s business

Bloomberg News / May 14, 2011

WASHINGTON — Whirlpool Corp., the world’s largest appliance maker, is being harmed by low-cost refrigerators from Mexico and South Korea, a US trade panel ruled, paving the way for tariffs on those imports.

The US International Trade Commission voted 5 to 0 in Washington yesterday in a preliminary ruling on the petition by Whirlpool to get antidumping and countervailing duties imposed on so-called bottom-mount refrigerators made by Samsung Electronics Co. or LG Electronics Inc. in the two nations.

LG said it will “aggressively contest’’ the decision.

The decision is the first of four the US company must win before tariffs of as much as 183 percent are imposed.

A spokeswoman for Samsung didn’t respond to an e-mail seeking a response.

“This unanimous decision by the ITC validates the action we’ve taken to protect our 23,000 US employees and the communities in which they work,’’ Jill Saletta, a spokeswoman for Whirlpool, said in a statement.

http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2011/05/14/us_rules_imports_harm_whirlpools_business/