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Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Our union for decades has been on the front lines fighting to protect our industries from dumped and illegally subsidized products, including from Japan.
We witnessed firsthand the devastating effects of unfair trade on our jobs and communities – and as an extension, how plant closures and reduced capacity limit our nation’s ability to meet its own critical needs.
When Nippon Steel announced it would purchase U.S. Steel (USS) on Dec. 18, 2023, we warned that allowing the transaction to go through would undermine these decades of work and leave our markets vulnerable to unfairly traded goods.
We cautioned that because USS makes many of the products currently under order, Nippon Steel could order USS to change its longstanding position and support revocation of antidumping orders.
Nippon Seeks to Lift Tin Mill Tariffs
We are now seeing further evidence that Nippon Steel will continue to prioritize its Japanese operations at the expense of U.S. workers as the International Trade Commission (ITC) reviews duties on tin mill products from Japan.
Nippon Steel was recently among the respondents seeking to lift tariffs on Japanese tin mill products, even while hundreds of our union brothers and sisters lost their jobs in recent years as USS idled tin mill production at UPI and Gary Works.
Hundreds more at Cleveland-Cliffs’ Weirton operations were also victims of dumping and illegal subsidies.
Adding insult to injury, the response cynically argues that these lost jobs are, in fact, a reason why the ITC should lift tariffs on Japanese goods.
Obviously, this is complete nonsense, and we must continue to protect what’s left of our domestic tin mill industry.
Given Nippon’s current actions, its public promises ring hollow. We have no reason to believe it will change course should the transaction with USS close, leaving our domestic steel industry in even greater danger.
For this and many other reasons including violations of our contract, national security and critical supply chain issues, Nippon must not be allowed to acquire USS facilities.
We will continue our fight to protect our jobs, our facilities and our domestic industries. Please watch for further updates. We will be sharing more information as it becomes available.
Mike Millsap
District 7 Director & Chairman of the Negotiating Committee
David McCall
International President