09/05/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 09/05/2024 14:42
Contact: R.J. Hufnagel, (412) 562-2450, [email protected]
(PITTSBURGH) - The United Steelworkers (USW) today joined with domestic steel producers in filing trade petitions seeking anti-dumping and countervailing duties on imports of corrosion-resistant, flat-rolled steel imports from nine countries.
Corrosion-resistant steel, known as CORE, is among the most important value-added flat-rolled steel products in the industry.
"CORE imports from these nine countries almost doubled from 690,000 tons in the first half of 2023 to 1.35 million tons in the first half of 2024," said USW International President David McCall. "These imports are destroying good union jobs in the United States and causing harm to U.S. companies.
"In particular, imports from Vietnam almost quadrupled from 122,000 to 468,000 tons," McCall said. "Vietnam is ramping up its steel industry and exports at the expense of U.S. workers, and we can't repeat the mistakes with Vietnam that we've made with China in the past."
In addition to Vietnam, the nations included in the petition are Australia, Brazil, Mexico, the Netherlands, South Africa, Taiwan, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.
Corrosion-resistant steel is widely used in vehicles, appliances and construction, as well as in other industries. The U.S. market consumes an estimated 22 million tons of CORE products annually.
"In a strong economy with strong steel demand, the U.S. industry is only operating at 77 percent capacity utilization this year and has seen sharply reduced profits compared to 2022 and 2023," McCall said. "Once again, the U.S. has become the dumping ground for excess steel capacity, and the USW will stand up against any unfair trade that hurts American workers."
The USW represents 850,000 workers employed in metals, mining, pulp and paper, rubber, chemicals, glass, auto supply and the energy-producing industries, along with a growing number of workers in health care, public sector, higher education, tech and service occupations.
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