The domestic specialty steel industry praised the efforts of U.S. government officials to reach consensus on an agreement to reduce or eliminate foreign government subsidies, despite Tuesday's suspension of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) talks.

"Our industry deeply appreciates the outstanding work of our trade negotiators to develop an international steel subsidy agreement," said Jack W. Shilling, Chairman of the Specialty Steel Industry of North America (SSINA) and Executive Vice President with Allegheny Technologies Inc.

"While we believe that the best opportunity in history to reach an agreement has slipped away, we encourage our negotiators and their foreign counterparts to reflect on these talks and come together at an appropriate future time to conclude an agreement," Shilling stated. "In the meantime, we will continue to monitor government steel subsidies worldwide and take appropriate action to assure fair trade in our marketplace."

SSINA has supported some form of a global agreement on steel issues for more than 20 years. More recently, the Multilateral Steel Agreement (MSA) was debated among nations throughout the 1990s, but never accepted. After MSA fizzled, negotiations ignited among U.S. stainless steel producers to craft a Multilateral Stainless Steel Agreement (MSSA). These talks failed when European trading partners insisted on higher subsidies for certain green lighted subsidies going forward.

SSINA is a Washington, DC-based trade association representing virtually all continental specialty steel producers.