Portman Testifies Before ITC, Fights to Protect Ohio Jobs from Unfair Foreign Trade

Statement

Today, U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) testified before the International Trade Commission (ITC) to fight on behalf of Ohio workers and against unfair trade practices. Specifically, Portman, who has a lengthy record of delivering results for Ohio workers, is fighting to protect Whirlpool and its 10,000 Ohio workers, including the more than 3,000 workers at Whirlpool's largest American factory in Clyde, Ohio, from unlawful dumping of clothes washers into the United States.

In 2012, the ITC heeded Portman's concerns that South Korean companies were engaging in unlawful dumping of clothes washers into the U.S. Following the ruling, however, South Korean manufacturers moved their washer production facilities to China, skirting the order and continuing to dump its products unfairly into the United States. The Commerce Department recently issued a preliminary ruling confirming that South Korean manufacturers continue to engage in unlawful dumping of clothes washers into the U.S., an issue that Senator Portman argues violates our trade laws:

"I want to thank you for making the right decision in that case regarding Korea and finding material injury. But before your final determination was even reached in that case, Samsung and LG were already moving their production to China. Free of duties that the Commission had imposed on the washers coming from Korea, they continued to target the U.S. market and have continued to undermine Whirlpool's investments in American plants and American jobs. That's what makes the case before you today so clear ---- you have the very same producers and the very same model numbers from the prior case and the only change is their label of "Made in Korea' to "Made in China.' The outcome of this case should be the same as the outcome in the first."

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