Letter to Chairman Deanna Tanner Okun, U.S. International Trade Commission

Letter

Today, Congressman Joe Donnelly and colleagues sent a letter to Chairman Okun of the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) to express support for the U.S. tin mill industry. The ITC is currently reviewing an anti-dumping order on tin mill products from Japan, and the letter asks the ITC to continue the order. The ITC hosted a hearing on the anti-dumping order on Japanese tin mill products today and will make a decision about the order in mid-May.

"I wrote a letter in support of the continuation of the anti-dumping order on Japanese tin mill products because if it ends, Japanese tin mill producers likely will resume dumping their products in the U.S.," said Donnelly. "This action will put U.S. tin mill producers, including those with plants in Indiana, at an unfair disadvantage. We have to level the playing field for U.S. tin mill producers and workers so that they have a fair fight in our competitive global economy."

U.S. Steel manufacturing plants in East Chicago, Gary, and Portage, Indiana produce tin mill products. Tin mill products, flat-rolled steel products coated with tin or chromium, are used primarily to make cans for food products and also aerosol, paint, and varnish cans.

The full text of the letter is below or you can download a PDF of the letter here.

April 11, 2012

The Honorable Chairman Deanna Tanner Okun
U.S. International Trade Commission
500 E Street, Southwest
Washington, DC 20436

Dear Chairman Okun:

We write today to express our strong support for the domestic tin mill industry in the Commission's ongoing review of an anti-dumping order on tin mill products from Japan, and we ask that the Commission make an affirmative determination.

Tin mill products are made across the country, and the impacts of unfair trade are felt across the entire steel industry. From 1997 to 1999, unfairly-traded U.S. imports of Japanese tin mill products increased from 182,157 net tons to 329,645 net tons, and we have no doubt that if the anti-dumping order is revoked, Japanese imports will again surge upward.

The U.S. Department of Commerce has already found that if the order is revoked, Japanese producers are likely to resume dumping at margins ranging from 32.5 percent to 95.3 percent. While the current order has been effective in limiting unfair trade, we would point out that Japan exported over 915,000 net tons of tin mill products last year and still has strong incentives to dump their products on our shores.

At a time when American manufacturing base is struggling to recover, we must be vigilant in ensuring that we uphold our trade laws. Therefore, we ask that the Commission make an affirmative determination in this review and maintain the antidumping order on Japanese imports of tin mill products.

Sincerely,