Contact: Barbara Riley
Monday, October 27, 2008

MANCHESTER, NH –  Continuing his fight to help resolve Goss International Corporation’s anti-dumping trade dispute against Japanese competitor Tokyo Kikai  Seisakusho (TKS), United States Senator John Sununu (R-NH) today (10/27) met personally with a top-level senior Japanese embassy representative at his Manchester office.

The meeting follows Sununu’s announcement last Wednesday (10/22) of significant progress in the case involving the Seacoast company that employs nearly 1,000 at its Dover and Durham plants. On three separate occasions during meetings in Washington and Tokyo last week, the State Department pushed the Japanese government to reach a resolution favorable to Goss.

“My message to the Japanese: the United States expects recognition of international trade law and anything less is harmful to trading partners here and around the world,” said Sununu, who has aggressively fought for Goss. “I have asked that this message be conveyed at the highest levels and have requested a followup meeting with Japanese embassy officials when I return to Washington.”  

On October 22, Sununu expressed disappointment with the Administration’s delay in aggressively addressing the Goss situation, however, considered it a positive move that high-ranking State Department officials are now actively engaged with the Japanese government to resolve Japan’s retaliatory action against Goss’s subsidiary in that country.

Goss International Corporation CEO Bob Brown said last week that, “Senator Sununu understands how important it is for the United States to strongly enforce international trade law. Jobs across this country, including 1,000 in Durham and Dover, New Hampshire, are at stake as a result of lax enforcement of our trade laws. As a result of Senator Sununu’s intervention the Administration is finally working with the Japanese government on Goss’s behalf.  We appreciate all of Senator Sununu’s efforts on this important matter.”

Sununu discussed the case with State Department officials as recently as two weeks ago. Additionally, in August of 2008 and on numerous earlier occasions, he  formally contacted the State Department to underscore that a compelling case exists that the Japanese government violated its Friendship, Commerce and Navigation Treaty (FCN Treaty) with the U.S. when it instituted a “clawback” provision in reaction to a 2003 court judgment in favor of Goss and against TKS.  Under the clawback provision, Goss’s Japanese subsidiary would have to repay a $31.6 million court judgment awarded to Goss against TKS in an anti-dumping lawsuit. Moreover, use of the clawback statute in this case would be an extremely harmful precedent.

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