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The US steel industry is supporting a comprehensive trade reform bill recently introduced in the House of Representatives that addresses certain major areas of concern related to the enforcement of US trade laws. This includes the application of countervailing duties (CVD) to non-market economy (NME) countries, as well as exchange rate manipulation.
This comes at a time when US steel imports continue to rise. The Washington-based American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reports that, based on preliminary data from the US Department of Commerce's Census Bureau, the USA imported 2.662m short tons of finished steel in February, up 30.2% from 2.045m tons of finished steel a year earlier and a 4% increase from the January figure.
"The bulk of the import increases are coming from countries where subsidies are prevalent, currency undervaluation is practised and capacity increases outstrip domestic demand," says Andrew G. Sharkey III, president and ceo of AISI, who notes: "These trade...