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Here's What Steel Industry Employees and Retirees are Saying to Commerce Secretary Evans and U.S. Trade Representative Zoellick
about denying further exclusion requests that are undermining the 201 Remedy
Dear Sir- As one of 74,000 retirees of Bethlehem Steel Company, I have been aware for years that the fate of the integrated steel companies has been precarious. Steel dumped into this country at below the true cost of production has destroyed the jobs of hundreds of thousands and indeed the lives of many. I fully realize that we will all be required to sacrifice further. But after years procrastination our government has finally granted some relief so that what remains of our industry might restructure. I urge you not weaken 201 Trade Relief.
Dear Secretary Evans,
I truly thought the administration was serious about helping the steel industry, its employees and retirees when President Bush invoked the 201 remedy. I'm now beginning to have second thoughts. Many of us with close ties to the domestic steel industry are starting to hear a lot of murmuring to the effect that 201 was invoked as a political expediency for the consumption of voters in the steel-producing states, and that offshore steel companies have been told from the very beginning not to worry, because "exclusions" would be virtually unlimited. I sincerely hope this mounting rumor is a false rumor. Please do everything in your power to immediately put a halt to further exclusions from the president's remedy.
I am a retiree from the steel industry, and am very concerned that if our
government keeps granting exclusions to the tarriffs imposed on imported
steel by President Bush, the purpose of the tarriffs will be meaningless.
We need a viable steel industry in the United States and must not let it
disappear. Almost all foreign companies have asked for exemptions to their
imported steel.
Please don't grant any more exemptions to the tarriffs in place. You have
given us a start, don't cut us off.
Mr. Secretary, I have been watching and cheered when finally, someone took a real look and saw how the US Steel industries have been hurt by foreign steel. I believed that we now would have some time to get our houses in order. But to my disbelief, all the talk of helping us has changed! Almost all of the foreign companies asking for exclusions are getting them. This is undermining the propose of the 201. Now we hear that the White House is impatient and disappointed that we haven't made more progress in trying to consolidate and form joint ventures. It has only been 4 months! Give us some time. As the saying goes:" Rome wasn't built in a day". Our problems won't be solved in 4 short months either. Please leave the tariffs that are still there in place. Don't grant anymore exclusions. You have given us some air, Don't cut us off now.
Mr Evans,
I am proud of the fact that President Bush is standing up for American Steel companies. I can't understand how the imported steel can be so much cheaper, unless they employ slave type wages on their employees. I say that the Tariffs need to stay in place. It may be healthier for the world, and increase world wage standards, not destroy our standards.
Since the arabs want a holy war, we need to show them how strong we can be. I also think that American steel should go to building a new World Trade Center, stronger and better.
Dear Mr Secretary
Needless to say we assume that you and the President are well aware and have been versed on the condition and plight of the American steel industry. Without your support and assistance this critical industry could jeopardize our defense posture and be a dilema to our economy.
Please take some moments from your most precious time to meaure the actions that have been taken place in the past few weeks and assure us that the industry will be given the opportunity to recooperate
After the ITC ruled that the American steel industry had been seriously injured by low-priced imports, the President instituted a tariff-based remedy to allow the industry to recover and restructure.
The 201 remedy is beginning to have tangible positive effects on the industry. Prices are recovering, domestic mills are increasing production and inventories are healthy.
However, the Department of Commerce and USTR have received thousands of requests to grant exclusions from the 201 remedy that risk severely weakening the effectiveness of the tariffs.
From the outset, the 201 remedy excluded numerous countries and major products entirely. For example, the President's Proclamation contained more than 150 specific individual product exclusions. Since that time the Administration has excluded approximately 250 additional products, a number of which were agreed to by the domestic industry.
The Department of Commerce and USTR have granted at least 38 exclusions for flat-rolled products,including tin mill products and plate that compete with domestically produced steel products. These exclusions were granted over the objections of Bethlehem Steel and the domestic industry.
The Administration has over 1000 other exclusion requests that are still to be decided. No exclusions should be granted to products that are or can be produced domestically.
Exclusions can seriously hamper the recovery of the domestic industry and threaten to nullify the relief ordered by the President.
We are urging the Administration to deny any additional exclusion requests made over the objection of the domestic industry. To the extent that any are approved over the industry's objection, strict quantitative limits and certification requirements must be imposed.
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