CEOs from the country’s largest and most important steel companies along with an executive from the nation’s top industrial union were on Capitol Hill on March 26 and used the opportunity to raise alarms about surging steel imports. They told members of the Congressional Steel Caucus that their industry was in a state of crisis and used words such as “gruesome,” “destruction” and “dire” to describe conditions that are worsening by the day.
[Reposted from Manufacturing & Technology News | Richard McCormack | March 32, 2015]
Imports now account for a record share of the U.S. steel market, leading to the recent and rapid closure of American steel mills and the loss of thousands of good-paying jobs.
The situation, they told the Steel Caucus in a unified voice, is far worse than anything they have seen in a generation, as foreign nations, awash in 638 million tons of excess capacity, dump subsidized steel into the United States, the world’s most open market.
They all stated that the U.S. government is mesmerized by the allure of “exports” and new trade agreements, and is doing little to enforce existing trade laws. This at a time when exports have stopped growing and U.S. producers are unable to increase their portion of the U.S. market.
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