Domestic Line Pipe Producers Press Trump to Assess Tariffs Pursuant to Section 232 Steel Investigation
The American Line Pipe Producers Association (ALPPA) asked the Trump administration to act quickly in slapping tariffs on imports pursuant to its ongoing Section 232 investigation on steel. In a Sept. 7 letter to President Donald Trump, ALPPA said global steel overcapacity, largely created by China, has spurred a surge of U.S. steel imports in recent years, despite G-20 and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development discussions. “There is an urgent need for immediate Section 232 relief for the domestic large diameter line pipe industry,” the letter says. “Chinese producers are increasingly shipping greater volumes of dumped and subsidized steel to other countries for production of large diameter line pipe that can then be shipped to the U.S. market at lesser duty rates or, in many cases, duty free.”
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ALPPA members have resultantly seen market share, capacity, production, revenue, investment and employment fall, the association said. Tariffs on steel imports, including steel coil, plate and pipe, would “quickly return” the U.S. line pipe industry to full capacity, and add hundreds of direct, upstream and downstream jobs as well, the letter says. The White House didn’t comment.
U.S. pipe producers also “strongly support” application of “Buy American” laws to steel pipelines, as outlined in a Jan. 24 executive memorandum (see 1701270004). The domestic line pipe industry has “more than sufficient capacity” to meet U.S. demand and can supply “virtually the entire range of line pipe products,” yet unfairly priced and subsidized imports have driven down U.S. prices and taken market share, ALPPA said. The letter adds: “We strongly believe that there are ways to address concerns posed by imports in the pipeline approval process, so that U.S. regulatory agencies weigh the full cost of permitted projects that use imports over domestic line pipe.”