AISI Hits at Trade Cheating In Comments to Hill and Administration

WASHINGTON, D.C. - In three separate actions this week the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) spoke out in Washington on the need to update U.S. trade laws to combat dumping, circumvention and other unfair trade practices, in addition to highlighting China's trade-distorting policies which have resulted in its failure to comply with World Trade Organization (WTO) commitments.

AISI and nearly a dozen other steel industry and related groups today sent a letter to the U.S. Senate leadership urging passage of the Leveling the Playing Field 2.0 Act- legislation to ensure the Department of Commerce has the tools necessary to combat circumvention of U.S. trade laws and unfair trade practices. AISI, in addition to the Steel Manufacturers Association, Committee on Pipe and Tube Imports, Specialty Steel Industry of North America, United Steel Workers, Alliance for American Manufacturing, American Institute of Steel Construction, U.S. Oil Country Tubular Goods Manufacturers Association (USOMA) and other industry partner associations, sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) urging them to "support American workers and industry by passing the Leveling the Playing Field 2.0 Act [and] send a strong signal that we will not allow China to dominate critical manufacturing."

Kevin Dempsey, AISI president and CEO, added, "U.S. antidumping and countervailing duty laws have not been updated since 2015. As a result, they have not kept up with the efforts of many entities to circumvent and evade U.S. trade enforcement measures. In addition, cross-border or 'transnational' subsidies -like those being used to subsidize offshore Chinese steel production via its Belt and Road Initiative- are not clearly addressed by our existing trade remedy laws. We need this bill to help U.S. industries fight back with new tools to crack down on repeat offenders and serial trade cheaters."

Dempsey also yesterday submitted comments to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) expressing continued concern with China's failure to comply with its WTO commitments. The comments highlighted China's continued use of massive subsidies and other trade-distorting measures that violate China's WTO obligations and adversely impact

American steelmakers. AISI highlighted China's continued unfair trade practices of currency manipulation, massive increases in steel over production enabled by government subsidies and continued Chinese government control over the operations and management of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) both in China and in SOE expansion beyond Chinese borders. Dempsey's comments also urged the Biden administration to take action to hold China accountable for its trade-distorting policies and practices by reinforcing trade actions to counter China's export-driven economic policies.

Third, AISI filed comments late yesterday with the Department of Commerce in support of several proposed changes to enhance the administration of U.S. antidumping and countervailing duty (AD/CVD) laws. AISI's letter reiterated the importance of AD/CVD laws to domestic manufacturers in providing legal recourse for unfairly traded products.

"AD/CVD laws provide domestic industries with a legal remedy to combat unfairly traded imports from around the world. For the steel industry alone, the Commerce currently has 309 AD/CVD orders in place on steel-related products from 45 different countries, highlighting the prevalence of unfair trade in our sector and the importance of full and vigorous enforcement of [these] laws," Dempsey concluded.

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Contact: Lisa Harrison

202.452.7115 / [email protected]

AISI serves as the voice of the American steel industry in the public policy arena and advances the case for steel in the marketplace as the preferred material of choice. AISI's membership is comprisedof integrated and electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmakers reflecting the production of both carbon and stainless steels which are critical to the everyday lives of all Americans - including national security, roads and bridges, the electrical grid, clean energy technologies and the automotive market. AISI also representsassociate members who are suppliers to or customers of the steel industry. For more news about steel and its applications, view AISI's website at www.steel.org. Follow AISI on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter(@AISISteel) or Instagram.

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