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Commerce Department Clears the Way for Anti-Dumping Duties on Cold Rolled Steel

In a ruling issued Thursday, the Commerce Department also affirmed that producers in Brazil, India, Russian and Korea are unfairly benefiting from government subsidies and set countervailing duties of between 0.6 percent and 58.4 percent.

The case, filed last year, arose on a complaint from AK Steel Corp., ArcelorMittal USA, Nucor Corp., Steel Dynamics Inc. and United States Steel Corp. The United Steelworkers union also supported the complaint.

“(The) final duty orders by the Obama administration expands fairer pricing conditions on cold rolled steel products from five countries, combined with duties placed earlier this summer on the same steel import products from China and Japan," USW international president Leo Gerard said in a statement.

The union said U.S. trade laws need to be rewritten, given the world’s excess steel capacity, which threatens American jobs.
"While we will persist in fighting for every job, a comprehensive approach to trade policy is what's really required," Gerard said.

"Winning a trade case means we have to 'lose' first. This says we have to experience injury in the form of permanently lost jobs and shuttered facilities to qualify for relief. Unfortunately, many lives and communities are then shattered in the process."