·  USW

USW Affirms U.S. Subsidy Duties on Line Pipe Imported from China

Contact:  Gary Hubbard,   202-778-4384; 202-256-8125

Washington, D.C. – Thomas M. Conway, Vice President of the United Steelworkers (USW), affirmed today’s vote by the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) to impose anti-subsidy duties on China imports of lined pipe at levels ranging between 36 to 40 percent.

“It’s an overdue statement on China’s continued cheating of our fair trade laws,” Conway declared. He said the tariff order benefits10 domestic producers representing about 1,100 production workers in 12 states who make small diameter pipe used by the domestic gas and oil distribution industry.

“The current recession that has thrown American workers out of their jobs makes it imperative we enforce our trade laws,” Conway adds. The USW joined in filing the petition this past April with the line pipe producers.

Imports from China increased tenfold from 28,000 tons in 2005 to 281,000 tons in 2007, but they declined in 2008 after the case was filed. In the portion of the line pipe trade case investigation by the DOC, dumping margins to be applied range from 69 to 86 percent.

A final vote by the ITC in the anti-dumping portion of the case is expected in April 2009.

In addition to the USW, petitioners in the case are Maverick Tube Corp., Houston; U.S. Steel Corp., Pittsburgh; Tex-Tube Co., Houston; TMK IPSCO Tubulars, Downers Grove, IL; Northwest Pipe, Vancouver, WA; ACIPCO, Birmingham, AL; and Stupp Corporation, Baton Rouge, LA.

Between 2005 and 2007, U.S. line pipe demand rose 58 percent, but the subsidized China imports captured most of the market increase. “This case is an example of claiming our market through subsidization and currency manipulation, rather than straight dumping as practiced by China in the past,” Conway explained.

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