AISI: Steel Industry is in Critical Time
03/23/2016 - Leaders at the American Iron and Steel Institute have called upon the U.S. government to vigorously enforce its trade laws and to deny China market economy status as a member of the World Trade Organization.
“If America's steel industry is to survive, the United States must take action to reduce global overcapacity by working to remove subsidized production from the world supply so basic market forces can once again determine outcomes. We must begin this effort by ensuring that our trade laws are aggressively enforced,” wrote institute CEO Thomas Gibson and board chairman Chuck Schmitt in an op-ed piece for CNN.
Schmitt also is president of SSAB Americas.
The association and several other U.S. manufacturing groups have formed a coalition to oppose naming China a market economy, a designation it says the country is automatically due under its ascension agreement with the WTO.
American producers, however, argue that the designation is not automatic and that the Commerce Department must first evaluate whether China is meeting specific criteria before it can receive the designation.
As it is, China is considered a nonmarket economy, which generally has allowed higher anti-dumping duties to be imposed against it in trade cases.
Gibson and Schmitt said this a critical time for the American steel industry.
“For 150 years, the steel industry has played a central and indispensable role in building this nation. It now needs and deserves the support of Congress and the administration, including the next president of the United States, to survive and thrive for our country's future,” they wrote.
The op-ed can be found here.
Schmitt also is president of SSAB Americas.
The association and several other U.S. manufacturing groups have formed a coalition to oppose naming China a market economy, a designation it says the country is automatically due under its ascension agreement with the WTO.
American producers, however, argue that the designation is not automatic and that the Commerce Department must first evaluate whether China is meeting specific criteria before it can receive the designation.
As it is, China is considered a nonmarket economy, which generally has allowed higher anti-dumping duties to be imposed against it in trade cases.
Gibson and Schmitt said this a critical time for the American steel industry.
“For 150 years, the steel industry has played a central and indispensable role in building this nation. It now needs and deserves the support of Congress and the administration, including the next president of the United States, to survive and thrive for our country's future,” they wrote.
The op-ed can be found here.
