Leo W. Gerard, President of the United Steelworkers (USW) cited the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) announcement yesterday to place antidumping duties of up to 99.65 percent on coated free sheet, or glossy paper from China as “finally showing that enforcing trade rules can make a difference in defending American workers’ jobs and the industries they work in.”
The USW president said, “We are pleased that the Commerce Department has rejected calls from the Chinese government to grant special treatment to its dumped and subsidized exports. The USW has been a strong supporter of the antidumping and countervailing duty cases on coated free sheet paper from China, and we believe that strong enforcement of all our trade remedy law tools is required to help level the playing field for the American paper industry.”
It was on Mar. 30 that for the first time ever, the Commerce Department reversed a decades-old policy and decided that countervailing duty (CVD) law could be applied to non-market economies that have led to preliminary tariffs on subsidized glossy paper imports from China. The agency announced preliminary CVD duties of up to 20.35 percent at that time.
The USW is a party to the anti-subsidy trade case with NewPage Corp., where the union represents nearly 4,000 production workers at plants in Escanaba, Mich.; Luke, Md.; Rumford, Maine; and Wickliffe, Ky.
A final determination in the anti-dumping and countervailing duty cases is due in August. The USW is continuing to participate actively in the countervailing duty investigation on glossy paper imports from China. Gerard said the USW will fight to ensure that the administration does not bend to Chinese pressure by granting China special immunity from the rules that govern fair trade.
Commerce yesterday also placed dumping duties on glossy paper from Indonesia and Korea. Indonesia got preliminary duties of 10.85 percent and Korea was hit with duties of 30.86 percent. Preliminary duties against China run from 23.19 percent to 99.65 percent.
Dumping refers to the illegal trade practice of selling in a foreign market at below cost of production or home market price. The dumping margins set by Commerce are meant to offset the unfair price advantage. However, duties will only be finalized if the U.S. International Trade Commission finds that the U.S. industry is materially injured or threatened with material injury by the dumped imports.
In 2007, slightly more than 9,800 USW-represented jobs remain at 22 paper mills that produce CFS in 13 states; a drop of 19 percent in just three years. The USW currently has 130,000 workers in the paper and forestry products industries, which are about 60,000 jobs less since 2002.
|
CHALLENGING UNFAIR TRADE
