ITC decision troubles steel consumers

Steel-consuming industries will continue to struggle to be competitive in the wake of the International Trade Commission's (ITC) April 14 decision to continue import restrictions on steel, according to the Consuming Industries Trade Action Coalition (CITAC) Steel Task Force.

"Steel consumers in the United States need access to stable, adequate supplies of globally priced steel, and the ITC decision ensures that they will continue to suffer from high prices, long lead times and quality problems," said Lewis Leibowitz, counsel to CITAC.

The ITC voted 4-2 to continue dumping orders for five years on certain hot-rolled, flat-rolled carbon steel from Japan, Russia, Brazil, and several other countries. Steel consumers had argued that the duties should be discontinued because the record profits of U. S. steel producers made it highly unlikely that they would be harmed by removal of the duties.

"While five years ago there may have been justification for these orders,circumstances have changed dramatically since then, " said Leibowitz. "Since the domestic steel industry cannot produce enough steel to meet U.S. demand, and the industry is profitable and competitive, why should U. S. policy impose a tax on imported steel that we need?"

"Steel consumers support a strong, globally competitive domestic steel industry. They support trade protection remedies for industries that are the target of unfair trade practices. But increasingly these industries must bear the burden of continued protection for their own suppliers, far beyond any reasonable time period, and that burden is becoming too great."

The CITAC Steel Task Force has argued that the ITC must take into account the impact on consumers and the economy as a whole, not just one segment of the economy, when determining whether to impose or continue trade remedies.