The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) released a statement Tuesday expressing strong support for legislation introduced by US Senators Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Charles E. Schumer (D-NY), Richard Burr (R-NC), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Rob Portman (R-OH), Susan Collins (R-ME), Bob Casey (D-PA), and Joe Donnelly (D-IN); and, Congressmen Tim Murphy (R-PA), Sandy Levin (D-MI),Mo Brooks (R-AL), Tim Ryan (D-OH), to address the unfair trade practice of currency manipulation that is severely impacting the American steel industry and other US manufacturers.
“Our industry continues to face a flood of dumped and subsidized imports coming into this country unfairly and at record levels, with finished imports taking the highest share of the US market we have ever seen. Finished steel imports captured 28 percent of the US market last year, compared to 23 percent in 2013,” said Thomas J. Gibson, AISI president and CEO. “The Obama Administration is focused on opening up markets and advancing a number of trade initiatives. But these efforts need to be balanced with actions that ensure strong and enforceable disciplines against the trade-distorting practice of currency manipulation, as is supported by the majority of Congress. We are tremendously grateful to these Senators and Representatives for their hard work and leadership on this issue.”
The legislation introduced today would allow US businesses to utilize the existing countervailing duty law to address the unfair trade advantage given to imports that benefit from currency manipulation, and has been a key provision of currency legislation passed by both the House and the Senate in previous Congresses.
Last summer, Gibson, partnered with the American Automotive Policy Council (AAPC) and the National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO), on a “road show” on currency manipulation, bringing the industries’ messages to events in Ohio, South Carolina and North Carolina.
“Currency manipulation continues to put US manufacturers, including the US steel industry, at a great disadvantage against our foreign competitors. In order to remain internationally competitive, we need the Administration to insist that our trading partners adhere to their World Trade Organization obligations and hold them accountable when they do not. We, likewise, need Congress to pass strong currency legislation, like these bills introduced today, to provide domestic industry with a remedy when currency manipulation injures US businesses and their workers,” Gibson concluded.