For immediate release	Contact: Thomas A. Danjczek
March 5, 2002	202/296-1515

Washington, DC                                                                                                                                

 

Minimill 201 Coalition Supports Presidential Steel Trade Remedy

 

WASHINGTON, DC (March 5, 2002)  Expressing their appreciation, US electric furnace steel producers, comprising the Minimill 201 Coalition, said they are pleased with the decision by the President to impose tariffs for three years on affected steel imports.  “We are gratified that the President recognizes that significant additional tariffs across a comprehensive range of injurious steel imports are the only fair and feasible means of providing effective relief and are the key elements in enabling seriously injured domestic steel producers to return to economic viability,” said SMA President, Thomas Danjczek.  “We believe this remedy will provide an opportunity for our industry to recover and to continue to be a viable supplier in support of America’s manufacturing industry.”

 

Coalition members expressed their gratitude to all members of the Administration for taking action through the Section 201 process to alleviate the impact of several years of massive surges of steel imports.  In particular, the Coalition wishes to thank Donald Evans, Secretary of Commerce, Ambassador Robert Zoellick, US Trade Representative, and Grant Aldonas, Under Secretary of Commerce, for their understanding of the problem and leadership in attaining a solution.

 

The Coalition said that this decision by the President is clear affirmation that even US minimills, among the most competitive world steel producers, have been injured by imports, and under World Trade Organization rules, are entitled to trade relief.

 

Minimill 201 Coalition members had hoped that tariffs would be imposed at higher levels over a broader spectrum of countries.  They also expressed concern that liberal access of imported slabs under the remedy may weaken the favorable impact of the remedy on US flat-rolled producers.  They emphasized that a close watch on the developing countries exempted by the Administration from the tariff remedy, and also on the level and sources of steel slab imports will be necessary to ensure that unfair advantage is not taken by these exempted country sources, which would severely diminish the efficacy of the remedy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Coalition supports the Administration’s view that global overcapacity is the root cause of the industry’s woes.  The reduction of overcapacity and elimination of subsidies both here and abroad must be a continuing priority over the longer term. The Coalition will continue to work with the Administration for permanent attainment of a uniform, fair, and open global trading environment.

 

In closing, the Coalition urges the Administration and Congress to work together to immediately implement a transparent system of automatic import licenses on all steel mill product imports, comparable to that adopted by our NAFTA trading partners.  This program is urgently needed to provide producers with early notice of imported products entering the United States and to ensure that the objectives of the remedy actions taken by the Administration are enforceable.