Dunstan lauds decision imposing duties on imported steel
From Illinois Business Journal news services
EDWARDSVILLE – Madison County Board Chairman Alan J. Dunstan says he likes the preliminary decision by the U.S. Department of Commerce that cold-rolled flat steel products were dumped on the American marketplace in violation of international trade laws and that duties shall be imposed.
The case will now be submitted to the International Trade Commission where a final determination of anti-dumping duties for this case, as well as two other pending cases, is expected before the end of summer.
Late Tuesday, the Department of Commerce ruled steel producers in China and five other countries sold cold-rolled steel at unfair prices and will be taxed 266 percent of the steel’s sale price. Steel produced in Brazil, India, South Korea, Russia, Japan and the United Kingdom will also be subjected to increased tariffs.
Dunstan said the decision by the Department of Commerce reinforces the message representatives from the county and the United Steelworkers delivered on Capitol Hill last week in support of the men and women laid off from the idled U.S. Steel mill in Granite City.
“Our nation cannot afford to permit our domestic steel manufacturing to continue to be undermined by this torrent of steel, subsidized by foreign governments, being dumped in our markets,” the chairman said. “The steel industry, and for that matter all of our country’s manufacturers, must have a chance to compete on a level playing field. Given the opportunity to compete fairly, manufacturing in America could again flourish.”
This is the second preliminary determination of products being unfairly dumped in the United States by foreign steel. On Dec. 22, 2015, the Department of Commerce announced its affirmative preliminary determinations in the anti-dumping duty investigations of imports of corrosion-resistant steel products from China, India, Italy and Korea. A third case is scheduled to have a preliminary determination during March.
“Receiving favorable rulings in the three pending cases being dumped in the United States is a great start, the first step in getting the men and women who make the world’s finest steel back to work,” Dunstan said. “But it’s important that we keep up the fight to support our workers, their families and manufacturing in America.”
