The Hindu Business Line : WTO verdict on Byrd Amendment � Not a triumph of sorts: "The general feeling among the people concerned is that it has become 'highly fashionable' in the WTO in Geneva to establish a linkage between world trade and any kind of activity in any part of the world; however remotely it may be connected or not, it has become a kind of 'magnificent obsession' in the WTO to interfere with sovereign rights of the governments, to question their legislative competence to look after their industry particularly in the wake of developments that are adverse to them with the coming into force of the plethora of WTO Agreements. "

IMO, the Bush Administration should not give way on the Byrd Amendment. The US has the right to do whatever it can to alleviate the damage caused by nations who engage in unfair dumping of goods on the market. The WTO is not a supergovernment, and the US should not surrender its sovereignty to it.

Let the European Union engage in a trade war and embargo if they wish. These things never succeed in damage to anyone but the people engaging in them.

Besides, it would put liberal Democrats who who respond with spasms of ecstacy whenever the European Union is mentioned. This is the BYRD Amendment after all. See link to the proposed Euro sanctions