AISI Recognizes Commerce Department’s Joe Spetrini
01/04/2008 - The American Iron and Steel Institute publicly commends the long and distinguished record of government service of Joseph A. Spetrini, U.S. Department of Commerce Deputy Assistant Secretary for Import Administration, who is retiring on Friday, Jan. 4.
Acting on behalf of its North American members, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) publicly commended the long and distinguished record of government service of Joseph A. Spetrini, U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) Deputy Assistant Secretary for Import Administration. Spetrini is retiring from the federal government, effective Friday, Jan. 4.
AISI President and CEO Andrew G. Sharkey III delivered the following remarks regarding Spetrini’s record of service in the U.S. government:
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“For more than 30 years, Joe Spetrini has been a most outstanding example of what it means to be a professional civil servant in the best sense of this term. Over the past three decades, Joe has been a key participant in virtually every major U.S. trade policy decision affecting steel.
From the GATT Tokyo Round to the WTO Doha Round, Joe has been a leading participant in efforts to negotiate improvements to the world’s rules-based trading system. From the Trigger Price Mechanism to the Voluntary Restraint Arrangements, from the Asian crisis and the fall of the Soviet Union to the Section 201 program, and from the OECD Steel Subsidies Agreement negotiation to the rise of China -- Joe has participated directly in efforts to negotiate real world solutions to the market-distorting practices that remain so pervasive in the global steel sector.
For as long as anyone can remember, Joe Spetrini has been at the very center of U.S. steel trade policy decision-making. As such, he has both seen and made history. For America’s steel industry, it seems as if Joe has always been there – both during our years of crisis and during our years of rebirth, restructuring and revitalization.
AISI, our member companies and U.S. trade policy will miss Joe Spetrini. We wish Joe and his family all of the best in the future. America’s steel industry is profoundly grateful for Joe’s government service.”
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AISI serves as the voice of the North American steel industry in the public policy arena and advances the case for steel in the marketplace as the preferred material of choice. AISI also plays a lead role in the development and application of new steels and steelmaking technology. AISI is comprised of 31 member companies, including integrated and electric furnace steelmakers, and 130 associate and affiliate members who are suppliers to our customers of the steel industry.
