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ROCKEFELLER TESTIFIES AT ITC HEARING, CALLS FOR EXPEDITED DECISION ON REMEDY
Tells Commission Steel Deserves Four Years of Enforceable Tariffs

WASHINGTON, D.C. – This morning Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) testified before the International Trade Commission during the remedy phase of the Section 201 Investigation. Rockefeller pressed the ITC to provide the President an expedited decision on its remedy for the domestic steel industry which has been severely crippled as a result of subsidized imports from other nations.

On Monday, October 22, the ITC found that nearly 80 percent of steel products have suffered serious injury due to the relentless level of steel imports that helped drive prices through the floor during a period of near record demand.

Rockefeller told the ITC, "Your decision on a remedy for the domestic steel industry may well be one of the most important decisions that this Commission has been asked to make since its inception in 1916. Your remedy decision will be historic because it can mark the turning point for our domestic steel industry -- an industry which you have already found to be seriously injured or threatened with serious injury as a result of unprecedented imports. If you recommend an effective tariff remedy enforceable for four years, the future of our nation's steel industry, its national security contributions, and a critical portion of our manufacturing economy will be secured. A sufficient remedy will return steel prices to their normal, pre-crisis levels and help American steel companies get back to the business of producing steel, making long-term investments, and restoring them to competitive companies once again. Should you fail to provide an adequate remedy, though, or fail to provide it in a timely manner, we may well lose this essential domestic industry forever -- with grave consequences."

Rockefeller encouraged the Commission to provide expedited relief stating, "The manufacturers of the steel products you found to be injured want the relief they are entitled to under U.S. law -- relief that is compatible with our international obligations. Steelworkers, the steel companies that employ them, and steel communities that have been making steel in this country -- generation after generation, competing in the world's most open steel market with none of the subsidies or other protection that foreign governments have routinely extended to their steelmakers -- are waiting for the relief to which they are rightfully entitled.

Noting that tens of thousands of West Virginians will be intimately affected by the ITC decision, Rockefeller said, "I have no doubt the fate of West Virginia's two largest steel producers is directly tied to your providing the appropriate remedy. So I am here to plead with you to follow the law as it was intended when Congress passed it and the President signed it."

Rockefeller added, "Now that injury has been demonstrated, you need to offer the remedy that the domestic steel industry and our country needs. Only the maximum possible tariffs on all steel products on which you ruled affirmatively will provide our industry with the chance it needs to recover and return prices to normal levels. You would erode the measure of relief you intend to provide by selectively applying tough tariffs for some products, and not others.

"I also need to emphasize that 201 relief should not -- indeed, must not -- replace existing antidumping and countervailing duty laws in place to offset dumped and subsidized steel exported by our competitors. Antidumping and countervailing duties stop future unfair trade, they do not remedy injury.

"I believe tariffs should be imposed for four years at a minimum. A period of this duration will give our industry the ability to readjust, reopen financing, and resume the ambitious investment program that was in place when the steel crisis hit in 1998. Only with meaningful tariffs in place will the President have the ability to successfully negotiate longer term reductions in global steel overcapacity. Quotas, at this point, won't do the job. Furthermore, almost as important as your proposed remedy, I ask you to expedite your proceedings to make sure your remedy arrives in time."

Rockefeller concluded by saying, "As a nation, now more than ever, we need the basic industries essential for our national defense. We need the American steel industry, and your remedy recommendations are central to the industry's future. We also need to know that our government will take measures to enforce the laws on our books. Yes, ultimately, the final determination rests with the President, but he will look to your recommendations. While few of our citizens realize this as well as the residents of the Ohio Valley, our entire nation is depending on the effectiveness of your recommendations. I am confident you understand the gravity of the task ahead of you."

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