WASHINGTON – Sen. Chuck Grassley is part of a request to the United States International Trade Commission that it consider specially outlined factors in a trade case involving steel producers, including SSAB Iowa Inc. with a facility in Montpelier in Muscatine County.

“We write to express our concern about unfairly dumped and subsidized carbon and alloy steel cut-to-length plate imports that are harming U.S. producers,” Grassley and fellow senators wrote to Chairman Irving A. Williamson.  “As you conduct investigations into the impact of these imports on American manufacturers, we urge you to fully implement the Leveling the Playing Field Act (Title V of P.L. 114-27) and consider a comprehensive list of factors in the Commission’s injury determinations.”

The senators wrote that imports of steel plate have skyrocketed in recent years.  Between 2013 and 2015, they surged by 100 percent.  In 2015 alone, the domestic industry estimates that 1.2 million tons of unfairly traded imports, worth $850 million, entered the U.S. market.  “These imports have taken their toll, and U.S. producers were forced to file antidumping and countervailing duty cases in April of this year,” the senators wrote.

The senators continued, “As of last year, U.S. producers were utilizing only 66 percent of their capacity, with U.S. plate production falling by nearly 20 percent in 2015.  U.S. plate producers’ sales dropped by more than one million tons.  At the same time, the U.S. plate industry’s operating income fell by over 90 percent.  As a result, more than 200 workers were laid off in 2015.  Even where workers have been able to keep their jobs, hourly wages have been reduced significantly.”

Grassley said the unfair imports are hard on companies such as SSAB Iowa Inc. with a steel coil facility in Montpelier.  “The United States needs to use every tool at its disposal to enforce trade rules,” Grassley said.  “Congress passed the Level the Playing Field Act to be sure the specific effects of unfair imports are considered when determining injury to a domestic industry.  Steel products are the ideal candidate for this detailed treatment.”

In 2014, Grassley urged full consideration to the domestic steel industry’s concerns about unfairly priced imports in a case that the manufacturer said caused reduced operating hours at a facility in Camanche in Clinton County.  

The latest letter is available here

 

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