Stronger Trade Law Enforcement Needed by Steel Industry, Lawmakers Tell USTR
Several lawmakers called for stronger U.S. government enforcement efforts to protect the domestic steel industry in comments to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (here) filed ahead of a public hearing on the matter. The International Trade Commission is scheduled to hold the hearing on global and U.S. steel industries on April 12 (see 1603030003). More than 100 U.S. lawmakers, industry executives and employees, association representatives, and other stakeholders submitted comments in response the request for comments from the USTR, Commerce Department, and other U.S. government agencies.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
The lawmakers, which largely included those from steelmaking districts and states, all called for relevant agencies to strongly enforce U.S. trade laws to curb harmful impacts on U.S. producers, with many advocating invoking new authorities provided in the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015, which President Barack Obama signed into law earlier this year (see 1602240042). The bill’s tools include an authorization for CBP to investigate AD/CVD evasion and for the USTR-facilitated operation of the Interagency Center on Trade Implementation, Monitoring, and Enforcement, but this language won’t have impacts unless federal agencies utilize the tools “aggressively and effectively,” wrote Rep. Keith Rothfus, R-Pa. (here).
Furthermore, the Trade Preferences Extension Act passed last year includes language aimed to expedite the process for domestic steel producers that bring antidumping and countervailing duty cases, Congressional Steel Caucus Chairman Tim Murphy, R-Pa said in his submitted comments (here). “It is absolutely critical that Commerce utilizes these statutory tools so that domestic steel producers are better able to compete in the global marketplace.”
Democratic Sens. Sherrod Brown, Ohio (here); Joe Donnelly, Ind. (here), Amy Klobuchar, Minn. (here), and Al Franken, Minn. (here), and Republican Sen. Rob Portman, Ohio (here), in their comments requested to testify at the April 12 hearing, where they said they would discuss the state of the global steel industry and impacts on the U.S. steel sector. Also, House Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Sandy Levin, D-Mich. (here), and Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-Ind. (here) requested to testify.
Steel Manufacturers Association President Philip Bell requested to testify as well, and he said in submitted comments (here) that he intends to discuss the “magnitude and distribution” of global steelmaking overcapacity, as well as potential steps to restore balance to the global steel industry. Furthermore AK Steel wants to send CEO Roger Newport and AK Steel Senior Environmental Engineer Amanda Smith to testify, said the company’s counsel, Stephen Jones of King & Spalding, in submitted comments (here). Newport will speak to the harm that illicit steel imports have had on domestic industry, and will urge the enforcement of trade laws, according to the comment. On the other hand, the submission says that Smith will provide the perspective "of a salaried employee on the current import crisis in steel," and on how the crisis has impacted her "personally and professionally." Smith moved from Ashland, Ky., to Dearborn, Mich., because of a temporary work stoppage at AK Steel's Ashland Works.