Steel Industry, Workers Urge Commerce Department to Stop Dumping of Foreign Steel (click here)
American steel producers and the United Steelworkers (USW) are working together to stop foreign “dumping” of seamless tubes, or oil country tubular goods (OCTG), which are used in the gas and oil industry. Dumping is the practice of exporting products at a subsidized below-market price, in many cases as much as 30 percent below. This practice has been perpetuated by countries including India, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, and Vietnam. International trade law is not being properly enforced and it is American manufacturers that will pay the price for the federal government’s inaction. The steel industry is correct to be concerned; 10,000 American steelmaking jobs were lost in 2008 because of a similar practice by China.
It is the responsibility of the United States Department of Commerce to enforce trade agreements by imposing antidumping duties and countervailing duties when its government subsidizes a foreign competitor’s production.
“We actually won that fight (with China), but by the time it was over we already lost the jobs at home,” said Chris Masciantonio, General Manager for Government Affairs at US Steel and co-chair of the PA Steel Alliance. “If we lose this one, it could become the model for cheating in the future.”
On the surface, the explosion in global steel capacity over the past ten years would indicate the world’s economy is growing at a staggering rate. China alone has the capacity today to produce one billion tons of steel a year. Ten years ago, it could produce a tenth of that. But it’s more than a supply and demand policy driving the growth; it’s what trade experts call a beggar-thy-neighbor policy. One country attempts to remedy its economic problems by worsening the economies of other countries. In short, some countries dump their products overseas by selling below production costs or below market prices in their home countries....
