Two matters arising from the absurd situation of the Draconian anti-dumping duties placed by the US adminsitration on active matrix flat panel displays: the first is that the Commerce Department could eliminate the pressure for US firms to manufacture abroad by extending the anti-dumping duties to imported machines incorporating the screens on a pro rata basis with the duty on the screens themselves (so that the duty applied to only a fraction of the imported price); the second is that if IBM Corp feels so strongly that the duties are a stab in the back to US manufacturers and a dampener on US employment, it could always persuade its joint venture partner on manufacture of the screens, Toshiba Corp that it might be an idea if the joint venture established a plant in the US.
