April 11, 2017

Duckworth, Durbin Urge Commerce Secretary to Strengthen Antidumping Measures & Protect American Workers

 

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] - As the U.S. Department of Commerce reviews antidumping margins on foreign imports, U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) called on Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to crack down on unfair trade practices and strengthen protections against the dumping of foreign-made products in American markets. In their letter, the Senators brought attention to the 2,000 Illinois steelworkers who were laid off after the temporary idling of blast furnaces and steelmaking operations at Granite City Works, a steel producer in Illinois.

"When domestic producers are forced to lay off workers, close their mills, and cut employees' pay, it brings devastation to the workers, their families, the community, and surrounding businesses,"wrote the Senators. "The idling of Granite City Works is directly linked to the influx of unfairly traded Oil Country Tubular Goods (OCTG) from Korea - Granite City makes the substrate used for tubular operations. If American companies are not producing OCTG, Granite City has no demand to meet, and the industry and workers that we support and believe in will continue to suffer in the face of unfair competition and dumped imports."

Senators Duckworth and Durbin have been outspoken advocates for increased antidumping protections for American companies. In January, Senator Duckworth met with Secretary Ross to discuss the need to safeguard American workers from unfair trade practices like currency manipulation and illegal dumping.

Full text of the Senators' letter is available online here and below:

April 7, 2017

The Honorable Wilbur Ross

Secretary

U.S. Department of Commerce

1401 Constitution Avenue, NW

Washington D.C. 20230

Dear Secretary Ross:

We are writing regarding the Department's current administrative review of antidumping margins on Oil Country Tubular Goods (OCTG) from Korea. Unless proper dumping margins are in place, a flood of foreign imports will continue to grow and threaten U.S. producers and workers.

In 2014, the Department determined that OCTG from the Republic of Korea were being unfairly traded in the U.S. markets. As a result, additional duties were assessed on imports of these products. When the Department's preliminary margins for the first review were lowered in October 2016, the amount of OCTG imports from Korea increased significantly. In February alone, Korean OCTG imports reached more than 80,000 metric tons, an increase of almost 40,000 metric tons from December 2016.

Meanwhile, since 2014, domestic producers have had to permanently shut down or temporarily idle tubular mills here in the United States. In our home state of Illinois, the blast furnaces and steelmaking operations at Granite City Works have been temporarily idled since December 2015, when 2,000 steelworkers were laid off. While we were encouraged by last December's announcement that U.S. Steel would reopen processing slab operations at the previously idled hot strip mill in Granite City, more than 1,000 workers remain out of work.

When domestic producers are forced to lay off workers, close their mills, and cut employees' pay, it brings devastation to the workers, their families, the community, and surrounding businesses. The idling of Granite City Works is directly linked to the influx of unfairly traded OCTG from Korea - Granite City makes the substrate used for tubular operations. If American companies are not producing OCTG, Granite City has no demand to meet, and the industry and workers that we support and believe in will continue to suffer in the face of unfair competition and dumped imports.

We appreciate your full consideration of all objective and accurate information in determining the extent to which these products are being dumped in our market so that our American producers and their workers can have a level playing field to compete upon.

Sincerely,