USW Endorses Trade Circumvention Cases: “Our Market is Under Attack”

Contact: Holly Hart (202) 778-4384

(Pittsburgh) – United Steelworkers (USW) International President Leo W. Gerard issued the following statement today on the filing of new trade circumvention cases at the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) by ArcelorMittal USA, Nucor Corporation, AK Steel Corporation, the United States Steel Corporation, Steel Dynamics, Inc., and California Steel Industries.

The cases cover unfairly traded imports of corrosion-resistant carbon steel and cold-rolled carbon steel from China that are circumventing the antidumping and countervailing duty orders recently imposed by the DOC. 

“The U.S. economy is the most open in the world, but our market is under attack.  Despite having dozens of successful trade cases, foreign competitors are using every means available to circumvent these rulings, and continue to ship their unfairly traded and illegally-priced products into our market. They do whatever they can to keep their facilities operating and their people working.

“We need to do the same.

“The recent antidumping and countervailing duty cases have been vital to stabilizing our market and helping to restore fair pricing for many products. Tens of thousands of jobs have been saved. The fight, however, is almost endless as competitors seek new ways to skirt the rules. Today’s case looks to close down yet another path being used to attack our market.

“It is a critical case as every job matters.

“We need to let our competitors know that breaking the rules is not acceptable and we are committed to ensuring fair play. The private sector has been bearing the brunt of this problem -- lost production, lost jobs and the burden of demanding the rules be aggressively enforced. 

“Enforcing our nation’s trade laws is comparable to the carnival game of ‘whack a mole,’ and these filing are us whacking that mole. Government needs to do much more to relieve that burden and send an unequivocal message that breaking rules will be met with swift and sure responses.”

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