Japan said it will impose higher tariffs on 15 U.S. products starting Sept. 1 in retaliation for a U.S. law that distributes the proceeds from anti-dumping levies to affected industries.

The increased tariffs are worth 5.7 billion yen ($51 million), the Ministry of Finance said in a statement today, without identifying the products involved.

Japan wants the U.S. to repeal the so-called Byrd Amendment, which became law in 2000, where proceeds from anti-dumping levies against Japanese steel products are distributed to the U.S. steel industry. [Bloomberg]

The perverse structure of the Byrd Amendment encourages rent-seeking, as Dan Ikenson noted in a September 2004 column:

The legislation was surreptitiously inserted into the agriculture appropriations bill in 2000 by Sen. Robert Byrd after it failed to win support from the congressional committees that have expertise and oversight on trade issues…

By compensating petitioners and supporters of petitions, the Byrd Amendment provides an additional financial incentive to file antidumping and countervailing duty cases. Furthermore, by excluding from compensation those companies that do not support the petitions, the law encourages them to change their positions simply to maintain eligibility for compensation.

Yet despite opposition to the law from President Clinton and advocacy for repeal from President Bush, Congress shows no sign of relenting. [Cato]