Portman and Brown Applaud Trade Ruling in Favor of Ohio-Based Steel Producers ArcelorMittal, AK Steel

Press Release

Decision Follows Efforts by Portman and Brown to Urge ITC to Enforce Trade Laws to Protect Domestic Steel Producers and Workers from Unfair, Illegal Trade Practices by Foreign Competitors

Today, U.S. Senators Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) applauded a ruling by the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) to maintain until 2018 existing antidumping duties (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) orders against unfairly traded imports of hot-rolled steel. This decision follows efforts by Brown and Portman in October to urge ITC Chairman Irving Williamson to maintain trade orders that would help ensure a level playing field for an already vulnerable domestic steel industry, including Ohio based steel producers like ArcelorMittal of Cleveland and AK Steel of Middletown.

"I am pleased that the ITC has decided to protect the steel industry and stand up for the thousands of Ohioans working at hot-rolled steel facilities throughout our state," Portman said. "Ohio steelworkers can compete and win on a level playing-field, but we must enforce our laws to ensure that foreign competitors do not target the U.S. market with illegally traded products."

"The ITC ruling is excellent news for Ohio's workers and manufacturers like those at ArcelorMittal and AK Steel," Brown said. "Our steelmakers can compete with anyone in the world, but we need to level the playing field by enforcing antidumping and countervailing duties. The ITC ruling would counteract illegal trade practices by China, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan, and Ukraine so we can make products and create jobs in Ohio and the United States."

Hot-rolled steel is vital to the long-term future of domestic steel production. The ITC decision counteracts the illegal foreign government subsidies and dumping of hot-rolled steel from China, India, Taiwan, Thailand, and Ukraine. Last year, these countries were estimated to have collectively had nearly four times the hot-rolling capacity of the United States. AD and CVD orders against these countries were originally imposed in 2001 and previously extended in 2007.

Portman and Brown have long championed the American steel industry and fought to ensure it can compete fairly in the international trade market. In 2011, Portman and Brown, along with 10 of their colleagues, sent a letter to the Chairman of the ITC in advance of hearing to determine whether hot-rolled steel imports from Brazil, Japan, and Russia are having a negative impact on the domestic hot rolled steel industry. Also in 2011, Brown authored and Portman voted for the Currency Exchange Rate Oversight Reform Act, bipartisan legislation which would use U.S. trade law to counter the economic harm to U.S. manufacturers caused by currency manipulation and would provide consequences for countries that fail to adopt appropriate policies to eliminate currency misalignment.

Portman's and Brown's October letter to the ITC can be read in its entirety below:

October 30, 2013

The Honorable Irving A. Williamson
Chairman
U.S. International Trade Commission
500 E Street, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20436

RE: Hot-Rolled Carbon Steel Flat Products from China, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan, and Ukraine: Inv. Nos. 701-TA-405, 406, and 408 and 731-TA-899-901 and 906-908 (Second Review)

Dear Chairman Williamson:

We are writing to encourage you to maintain the existing antidumping and countervailing duty orders against unfairly traded imports of hot-rolled steel from China, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan, and Ukraine. These trade orders are necessary to prevent further injury to an already vulnerable domestic steel industry.

While the economy is growing slowly, the U.S. hot-rolled steel industry is in substantially worse condition than it was when the Commission last considered these trade remedies, five years ago. The recent financial performance of domestic hot-rolled steel producers confirms that production and capacity utilization rates are down, and the industry's rates of return are wholly inadequate to justify future investment. Moreover, U.S. demand for hot-rolled steel remains weak and the overall health of the U.S. and global economy is unstable.

At the same time, hot-rolled steel producers in all six countries are heavily export-oriented and have become even more so given depressed market conditions in their home and traditional export markets. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, global steel overcapacity is substantial and growing. Yet, these countries continue to expand their capacity at alarming rates. With economic slowdowns in Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia, foreign producers in these six counties will not hesitate to ship their dumped and subsidized excess steel into the United States, as they have in the past.

As the Commission is aware, the Department of Commerce recently determined that revocation of the antidumping orders would likely lead these countries to dump hot-rolled steel into the United States at margins ranging from 4.41 percent to 90.83 percent, and that revocation of the countervailing duty orders would likely lead to continuation or recurrence of a countervailable subsidy at margins of more than 500 percent. In other words, these trade remedy orders are the only thing preventing significant quantities of unfairly traded hot-rolled steel from these countries from quickly overwhelming an already vulnerable industry and causing harm to U.S. manufacturers and their workers.

Given the current state of the domestic industry and the ability of producers in China, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan and Ukraine to send significant quantities of hot-rolled steel to the U.S. market, removing the existing trade orders would harm the domestic industry and its workers. As a result, we strongly urge you to maintain the existing orders against dumped and subsidized imports of hot-rolled steel.

Thank you in advance for your time and consideration of this critical issue.

Respectfully submitted,

Senator Joe Donnelly
Senator Jeff Sessions
Senator John Boozman
Senator Sherrod Brown
Senator Richard Burr
Senator Robert Casey, Jr.
Senator Dan Coats
Senator Richard Durbin
Senator Al Franken
Senator Lindsey Graham
Senator Kay Hagan
Senator Tom Harkin
Senator Amy Klobuchar
Senator Carl Levin
Senator Rob Portman
Senator Mark Pryor
Senator John D. Rockefeller IV
Senator Richard Shelby
Senator Debbie Stabenow

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