Stopping Overseas Subsidies Act of 2005

The Stopping Overseas Subsidies Act of 2005 (S. 593) was designed to allow the U.S. government to impose "countervailing duties," or specialized import taxes, on goods from nonmarket economy countries like China if those goods were found to be unfairly subsidized by their home governments. At the time, U.S. trade policy generally exempted nonmarket economies from these specific penalties, which are intended to offset the price advantages created by foreign government aid. For American citizens, the bill aimed to protect domestic manufacturers and workers from being undercut by lower-priced foreign imports that benefited from state financial support.