Nine different companies joined members of the House Select Committee on China at a press conference on Wednesday to talk about their battles with “China trade cheats” that have cost them a fortune. Most of them closed factories, or rolled back investment. Despite tariffs and anti-dumping (AD/CVD) trade case victories, the battle continues.
Tom Muth, the COO of Zekelman Industries, explained one way China avoids tariffs. Their raw steel is tariffed under Section 232. But other countries can buy it, easily. They buy sheets of heavily subsidized raw steel from China, turn it into products like steel rebar, and sell it into the U.S. market. U.S. companies that make steel rebar, for example, are still competing with China steel. Their products are all over the place.
“We have battled with them for two decades,” Muth said. “We have closed factories, reduced employment and investment. We have the capacity in this country to supply the market here, but we are overwhelmed by imports from countries that get the lower priced, subsidized flat rolled steel from China,” he said, naming Oman in particular.
Zekelman makes steel products like conduit for electric wires, and steel tubing. They operate 21 factories nationwide.
David Rashid, Executive Chairman at the 115 year old auto parts company, Plews & Edelman, said he has been battling trade cheats since 2015.
“We hoped the Section 301 tariffs on China would level the playing field but instead they shipped goods through Taiwan and sold them here,” he said, calling it “a calculated fraud.”
In early 2024, the Department of Homeland Security raided that Chinese company’s facility in Ohio, but this company, which Rashid did not name, is still building their book of business in the U.S. He cited lackluster trade enforcement at the Department of Justice, a consensus in the room.
“We had to tell skilled and loyal workers that they no longer had a job and we had to defer investment,” Rashid said. “It’s not because we are bad at our business. It is because the (trade) system did not work for us. There are thousands of companies fighting this issue, but they remain silent. They are convinced the system will not protect them.”
Imports from Asia have gone up 60% in recent years despite tariffs and that is thanks to customs fraud. American textile companies have closed 27 factories because of this abuse. We need to investigate and prosecute predatory trade violators. Until you do that, bad actors will become more brazen with transshipment of goods, undervaluation and mislabeling. This is one area of trade where crime does pay.
Andy Warlick, Chairman and CEO of Parkdale Mills had the quote of the day. He took the Committee’s free traders to task. This free trader mindset has been a roadblock to anything that counters a laissez-faire, allegedly free flow of goods from around the world into the U.S. China dominates that flow, although now – due in large part to tariffs and geopolitical risks – Asia has about three mini-China’s taking its place.
Warlick said: “Those who have defended free trade have unwillingly been supporters of blatant mercantilism. The only thing free has been their access to the U.S. market, something we do not enjoy in their markets due to high tariffs, a devalued currency that makes us too expensive, or VAT taxes that make imports less attractive. No one practices free trade but us. Today we are hearing about tariffs in the news and how it will cause a trade war. We lost that war years ago. Just look at our trade deficit. Countries don’t buy our stuff unless they can’t make it themselves, or have to have it to make something else they’re going to sell back to us. It’s time to get serious about making U.S. manufacturing great again.”
Wednesday’s event was not the usual Committee hearing. There were no Q&A’s after the short presentations.
Committee member Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA-2) kicked off the roughly 45 minute press conference and used her time to talk up her bill, the International Trade Crimes Act, introduced in September. The bill calls for creating a task force inside the Department of Justice to investigate and prosecute trade-related crimes rather than wait for companies to file costly trade cases on their own.
The bill also would require the Attorney General, in this case Pam Bondi, to submit an annual report to Congress assessing the DOJ’s efforts, with annual statistics on trade-related crimes.
Democrats in attendance supported Hinson’s bill.
Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA-36), who serves on the House Judiciary and House Foreign Affairs committees, said the Hinson bill gives the DoJ more resources to go after AD/CVD cases on its own. He said he supports the bill.
Select Committee Ranking Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL-8) said dumping was “killing the competition” in the United States.
“Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me for decades….and it’s time to pass legislation,” he said.
Brad Muller, Vice President of Corporate Communications at Charlotte Pipe said that even when companies win AD/CVD cases, China figures a way around them.
“Over the course of the last seven years, we have spent millions of dollars to avail ourselves of every remedy we can to fight dumping,” Muller said. “We won AD/CVD cases with duties ranging from 40% to 400%. But to avoid them, Chinese companies just ship out of Southeast Asia. We have filed more than a dozen of these petitions over time, and in each case they have found there was tariff evasion,” he said, adding that despite Customs and Border Protection’s good faith efforts, they have been unable to stop these tariff-evading shipments.
MADE IN AMERICA.
CPA is the leading national, bipartisan organization exclusively representing domestic producers and workers across many industries and sectors of the U.S. economy.
House Select Committee on CCP Hears Testimony From 9 Companies Detailing Their Struggles Against Chinese Trade Violators
Nine different companies joined members of the House Select Committee on China at a press conference on Wednesday to talk about their battles with “China trade cheats” that have cost them a fortune. Most of them closed factories, or rolled back investment. Despite tariffs and anti-dumping (AD/CVD) trade case victories, the battle continues.
Tom Muth, the COO of Zekelman Industries, explained one way China avoids tariffs. Their raw steel is tariffed under Section 232. But other countries can buy it, easily. They buy sheets of heavily subsidized raw steel from China, turn it into products like steel rebar, and sell it into the U.S. market. U.S. companies that make steel rebar, for example, are still competing with China steel. Their products are all over the place.
“We have battled with them for two decades,” Muth said. “We have closed factories, reduced employment and investment. We have the capacity in this country to supply the market here, but we are overwhelmed by imports from countries that get the lower priced, subsidized flat rolled steel from China,” he said, naming Oman in particular.
Zekelman makes steel products like conduit for electric wires, and steel tubing. They operate 21 factories nationwide.
New CPA Economic Report Highlights Importance of President Trump’s Steel and Aluminum Tariffs
Read More »David Rashid, Executive Chairman at the 115 year old auto parts company, Plews & Edelman, said he has been battling trade cheats since 2015.
“We hoped the Section 301 tariffs on China would level the playing field but instead they shipped goods through Taiwan and sold them here,” he said, calling it “a calculated fraud.”
In early 2024, the Department of Homeland Security raided that Chinese company’s facility in Ohio, but this company, which Rashid did not name, is still building their book of business in the U.S. He cited lackluster trade enforcement at the Department of Justice, a consensus in the room.
“We had to tell skilled and loyal workers that they no longer had a job and we had to defer investment,” Rashid said. “It’s not because we are bad at our business. It is because the (trade) system did not work for us. There are thousands of companies fighting this issue, but they remain silent. They are convinced the system will not protect them.”
Andy Warlick, Chairman and CEO of Parkdale Mills had the quote of the day. He took the Committee’s free traders to task. This free trader mindset has been a roadblock to anything that counters a laissez-faire, allegedly free flow of goods from around the world into the U.S. China dominates that flow, although now – due in large part to tariffs and geopolitical risks – Asia has about three mini-China’s taking its place.
Warlick said: “Those who have defended free trade have unwillingly been supporters of blatant mercantilism. The only thing free has been their access to the U.S. market, something we do not enjoy in their markets due to high tariffs, a devalued currency that makes us too expensive, or VAT taxes that make imports less attractive. No one practices free trade but us. Today we are hearing about tariffs in the news and how it will cause a trade war. We lost that war years ago. Just look at our trade deficit. Countries don’t buy our stuff unless they can’t make it themselves, or have to have it to make something else they’re going to sell back to us. It’s time to get serious about making U.S. manufacturing great again.”
Wednesday’s event was not the usual Committee hearing. There were no Q&A’s after the short presentations.
Committee member Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA-2) kicked off the roughly 45 minute press conference and used her time to talk up her bill, the International Trade Crimes Act, introduced in September. The bill calls for creating a task force inside the Department of Justice to investigate and prosecute trade-related crimes rather than wait for companies to file costly trade cases on their own.
The bill also would require the Attorney General, in this case Pam Bondi, to submit an annual report to Congress assessing the DOJ’s efforts, with annual statistics on trade-related crimes.
Democrats in attendance supported Hinson’s bill.
Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA-36), who serves on the House Judiciary and House Foreign Affairs committees, said the Hinson bill gives the DoJ more resources to go after AD/CVD cases on its own. He said he supports the bill.
Select Committee Ranking Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL-8) said dumping was “killing the competition” in the United States.
“Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me for decades….and it’s time to pass legislation,” he said.
Brad Muller, Vice President of Corporate Communications at Charlotte Pipe said that even when companies win AD/CVD cases, China figures a way around them.
“Over the course of the last seven years, we have spent millions of dollars to avail ourselves of every remedy we can to fight dumping,” Muller said. “We won AD/CVD cases with duties ranging from 40% to 400%. But to avoid them, Chinese companies just ship out of Southeast Asia. We have filed more than a dozen of these petitions over time, and in each case they have found there was tariff evasion,” he said, adding that despite Customs and Border Protection’s good faith efforts, they have been unable to stop these tariff-evading shipments.
MADE IN AMERICA.
CPA is the leading national, bipartisan organization exclusively representing domestic producers and workers across many industries and sectors of the U.S. economy.
TRENDING
CPA Supports Senator Rick Scott’s Legislative Package to Protect American Investors from Chinese Exploitation
What Members of the House Ways and Means Committee Are Saying About Tariffs
Is China Gaining Ground in the New Space Race?
USTR Jamieson Greer Tells Senate: Trump Tariffs Will Stay as U.S. Shifts to Producer Economy
CPA Responds to Chinese Government Sanctions: “We Won’t Be Deterred”
The latest CPA news and updates, delivered every Friday.
WATCH: WE ARE CPA
Get the latest in CPA news, industry analysis, opinion, and updates from Team CPA.
CHECK OUT THE NEWSROOM ➔