WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, after learning of a preliminary step taken by the federal government to counteract steel dumping by Asian and African countries, Senator Rockefeller said he is encouraged by the decisive action to protect our domestic steel industry. Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Commerce instructed U.S. Customs officials to impose duties of up to 34 percent for certain hot-rolled carbon steel products in order to counteract the illegal subsidies that India, Indonesia, South Africa and Thailand were providing for their exports to the U.S.

"While this decision is a step in the right direction for the U.S. steel industry, we cannot rest or continue to ignore the unabated steel dumping that is occurring in the United States," Rockefeller said. "Steel companies in West Virginia and across the United States need emergency action by the Administration before more companies have to file for bankruptcy, throwing thousands of people out of work, destroying their communities and threatening our national steel-making capacity."

Rockefeller continued, "To provide meaningful relief for our domestic steel producers and workers, the Administration should immediately initiate a section 201 review of all steel products and negotiate a multilateral steel agreement with our trading partners to address the roots of the steel crisis including global overcapacity and unfair subsidization of foreign competitors."

The case involving the illegally subsidized exports was filed by several U.S. steel companies, including Weirton Steel Corporation, as well as the Independent Steelworkers Union and the United Steel Workers of America.