Ohio steelmakers, senators applaud crackdown on China

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Ohio steelmakers, senators applaud crackdown on China

By Steve Bennish

Ohio’s senators and an Ohio steel industry organization Wednesday applauded a U.S. Department of Commerce decision to more comprehensively enforce actions against Chinese oil pipeline manufacturers who export product at artificially low prices.

The illegal international trade practice is known as product dumping. Because of the decision, the senators said, products exported from China, even when treated in another nation on the way to the U.S., will be subject to anti-dumping and countervailing duties. The dispute over the dumping dates to 2008 and involves billions of dollars of pipe exported from China.

Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown said this case “focused on whether minor alterations made to Chinese (pipe) in other countries were enough to change the products’ country of origin.” With the ruling, pipe “made in China and finished in other countries will still face existing trade enforcement penalties,” Brown said.

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Senator Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, called the Commerce ruling “excellent news for Ohio’s workers and manufacturers like those at U. S. Steel and Vallourec Star. This decision makes it clear that countries like China can’t use loopholes to circumvent international law and evade anti-dumping and countervailing duties. Our steelmakers can compete with anyone in the world, and now we’ve taken a step towards leveling the playing field and protecting domestic jobs

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http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/news/ohio-steelmakers-senators-applaud-commerce-decisio/ndMSN/

Duties on Illegally Traded Chinese Steel Pipe Will Protect American Workers

PITTSBURGH – United Steelworkers (USW) International President Leo W. Gerard issued the following statement after the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) announced that it would maintain antidumping and countervailing duties on Chinese steel pipe imports:

“With thousands of family supporting jobs at stake, we applaud the DOC ruling to protect American workers. When our international trade partners break the law, we rightly depend on our government to enforce it to protect our communities and prevent the continued erosion of our industrial base.”

“The USW is especially grateful to Senators Sherrod Brown and Rob Portman of Ohio for their leadership in calling on DOC to prevent Chinese pipe producers from exploiting a loophole that would have enabled them to avoid existing antidumping and countervailing duties by changing a product’s ‘country of origin’ after minor alterations elsewhere.”

“Domestic manufacturers have been dealing with the consequences of unfair foreign trade for decades, and we remain committed to fight to level the playing field for American workers to compete globally.”

The USW represents 850,000 men and women employed in metals, mining, pulp and paper, rubber, chemicals, glass, auto supply and the energy-producing industries, along with a growing number of workers in public sector and service occupations.

http://www.usw.org/news/media-center/releases/2014/duties-on-illegally-traded-chinese-steel-pipe-will-protect-american-workers

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