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Commerce Announces Schedule for Next Phase of Section 201 Proceeding on Certain Steel Imports

Washington, DC - The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) today recommended that the President provide relief to the domestic industry under Section 201 of the Trade Act of 1974. Although the individual Commissioners' recommendations vary from product to product, they recommended that some form of relief be provided for each of the 16 product categories for which the ITC made an affirmative determination of injury in October. The recommended remedies include tariffs, quotas, and tariff-rate quotas. These products collectively accounted for $10.7 billion in imports last year.

The ITC made its recommendation as part of the Section 201 investigation called for by the President on June 5, 2001. As part of that investigation, the ITC announced on October 22, 2001, its finding that imports of flat-rolled steel and several other types of steel products were a substantial cause of serious injury or threat of serious injury to the U.S. industry. The ITC will issue a formal report explaining its recommendation and findings on December 19, 2001. After that, the President will have up to 75 days to adopt the ITC recommendation, modify it, replace it with some other form of relief, or take no action at all under the law. In making his decision, the President will consider the recommendation made by the ITC, as well as input from the public gathered through an outreach process initiated on October 26, 2001, in a Federal Register notice issued by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR). Written comments on what action, if any, the President should take may be submitted no later than December 28, 2001, to USTR's Executive Secretary of the Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC) at FR0001@USTR.gov. Responses to such comments may be submitted no later than January 8, 2002.

This Section 201 proceeding is part of the Administration's three-pronged strategy on steel. The second prong consists of international negotiations with 35 countries seeking to facilitate the elimination of inefficient excess steel capacity. The third prong consists of negotiations to discipline market-distorting practices by foreign governments. The second round of steel negotiations will be held in Paris December 17-18.