"The inability of the global community to address overcapacity allowed illegal subsidies and the dumping of steel to proliferate. The resulting abuse of the global marketplace has forced individual nations to take matters into their own hands,” he said.

“Simply put, America has stopped asking nicely for compliance with the rules of trade and is now enforcing the law,” said Ferriola, who delivered a morning keynote speech at the annual Steel Success Strategies conference.

The 33rd installment of the steel industry conference is taking place Tuesday and Wednesday in New York City.

Also during his speech, Ferriola said Nucor is planning to add to a series of investments that have amounted to about US$1 billion in each of the last few years.

"I’m not going to share exactly what they are, but they’re being planned."

Ferriola was asked whether those projects might include a second direct-reduction plant in Louisiana. He wouldn’t say whether one was under active consideration, but he noted the Louisiana plant already has the infrastructure to support a second facility.

He also said that one of the determining factors would be Nucor's view on the long-term availability of prime scrap to support its high-end steelmaking.

And in the company's view, Nucor has some concerns about the viability of that scrap pool. He said prime scrap availability is declining alongside overall declines in U.S. manufacturing and as greater manufacturing efficiencies reduce the amount of scrap being generated.

He also said Nucor has concerns about scrap quality, which is being diminished by residual copper contamination. By Nucor's own record keeping, residual copper levels in prime scrap have increased 300% in the last few decades, he said.