President Bush Friday turned down a New Jersey manufacturer's request for restrictions on imports of "pedestal actuators" from China.

The devices are used primarily to raise and lower seats on electric wheelchairs and mobility scooters used by the disabled and the elderly.

"I have determined that providing import relief for the U.S. pedestal actuator industry is not in the national economic interest of the United States," Bush said in a statement.

Motions Systems Corp. of New Jersey asked for the protection last year under so-called "safeguard" provisions of the U.S.-China Relations Act of 2000, which paved the way for Beijing's entry into the World Trade Organization.

It was the first such case filed under the act.

The U.S. International Trade Commission voted 3-2 in October that imports had increased enough to potentially harm U.S. companies. Motion Systems is the main U.S. manufacturer of pedestal actuators.

In its submission to the ITC, Motions System identified CCL Industrial Motor Ltd. of Shajing, China as the source of the increased imports beginning in late 2001. The firm's parent company, Chiaphua Components Ltd, is located in Hong Kong.

Bush said an import curb would hurt downstream manufacturers who employ "significantly larger numbers of workers" more than it would help the pedestal actuator industry.

He also said it would hurt the many disabled and elderly purchasers of electric wheelchairs and mobility scooters.
(From WASHINGTON Reuters)