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USW Calls on U.S. Trade Commission to Uphold Steel Tariffs
08/01/2007 - The United Steelworkers testified in support of tariffs on hot-rolled steel as the U.S. International Trade Commission opened its public hearing on whether tariff orders on steel from 11 countries should continue for another five years.
The United Steelworkers (USW) testified in support of tariffs on hot-rolled steel as the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) opened its public hearing on whether tariff orders on steel from 11 countries should continue for another five years.
According to the USW, the tariffs prevent foreign producers from unfairly dumping their products into the U.S. market at subsidized prices.
“The continuation of all of the anti-dumping and countervailing duty orders on hot-rolled steel is imperative to the livelihood of numerous domestic companies that employ the dedicated workers and to the retirees that are and have been the backbone of this nation’s steel industry,” stated testified USW President Leo W. Gerard.
In his appearance, Gerard asked the six ITC commissioners to recognize as stakeholders, the more than 60 active and retired steelworkers in the hearing room who traveled from domestic steel mills that produce the hot-rolled product from Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, and Maryland.
The USW president said domestic producers sell more hot-rolled steel than any other flat-rolled product. “Hot-rolled steel is without question one of the most vital steel products made in the U.S. Not only is hot-rolled steel used in automotive and construction applications, among others, but it is processed internally to make corrosion-resistant steel, cold-rolled steel, tin mill, steel pipe and tube.
“This means that tens of thousands of workers producing a variety of steel products are dependent on a viable hot-rolled steel industry to pay their bills, take care of their families, and send their children to college.”
Gerard said that revoking the tariff order would pull the plug on one of the nation’s most important basic industries, and would erode an already-diminishing manufacturing base. “The USW and its members thank the commission for imposing the relief on hot-rolled steel in 2001. It gave the industry the opportunity to lift itself out of crisis, yet again. But countries in this review are even stronger today than in the late 1990s. They are more capable today of doing harm if the orders are revoked.”
Gerard told the commission, “The workers and retirees should not have to face their futures with the uncertainty unfairly traded imports creates and has repeatedly created in the past.”
Tom Conway, USW Vice President, also appeared before the ITC, saying the threat to domestic steel producers is greater now than it was during 2000—the last full year before the orders at issue were imposed. He cited that although China's production was only 72% of U.S. production, this year, China's production will equal 374% of U.S. production. “China's record leaves absolutely no doubt that it will flood this market if it gets the chance.”
In addition to China, the other countries covered by the current hot-rolled steel tariff orders are Argentina, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Netherlands, Romania, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand and Ukraine. The ITC’s hearing on hot-rolled steel is a ‘sunset review’ whose purpose is to determine whether revocation of the tariff orders would likely lead to continuation or recurrence of material injury within a reasonably foreseeable time. The commission vote on the review will be made in September or October.
