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ROCKEFELLER MEETS WITH PRESIDENT ON STEEL
Senator Urges President to Impose 40 Percent Tariffs to Save U.S. Steel

WASHINGTON, D.C. - After speaking at a Washington, D.C. steel rally today, Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), along with members of the House and Senate Steel Caucuses, met with President Bush at the White House. At the meeting, Rockefeller stressed to the President that the steel industry is in a dire situation, and that they need him to impose a 40 percent tariff over four years in order for the industry to survive.

"This afternoon, I reminded the President in person of the promise he made as a candidate to protect American markets, and stressed that anything less than 40 percent tariffs for four years would do little to pull the steel industry back onto its feet," Rockefeller said. "The President listened he was open, he took notes, but he made no commitments."

Many of the President’s top advisors sat in on this afternoon’s meeting including Vice President Cheney, Secretary of Commerce Don Evans, United States Trade Ambassador Robert Zoellick, and White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card.

"Today approximately 30,000 steel workers and their families came to Washington so that President Bush could hear their voices and to remind him that the decision he makes next Wednesday directly affects thousands of hard working Americans. We are now down to the final hour and my colleagues, the steel workers of America, and I are relying on the President to make the right decision, impose 40 percent tariffs, and fulfill the promise he made," Rockefeller added.

Rockefeller has been a champion of the steel industry on Capitol Hill, working since 1997 to initiate a Section 201 investigation. Last June, both President Bush and the Senate Finance Committee, at Rockefeller’s urging, instructed the International Trade Commission (ITC) to hold Section 201 hearings. As a result, the ITC found unanimously that there had been injury to the domestic steel market due to foreign steel dumping and recommended remedies to the President. President Bush has until next Wednesday, March 6^th, to make his final decision.

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