Following similar actions by other sectors of the US steel industry, the Cold Finished Steel Bar Institute (CFSBI) sent a letter to Donald Trump this week urging early action to impose a remedy under the current Section 232 investigation, in order to “protect the ability” of US steel industry to supply materials “critical” to national defense and infrastructure.
“Cold finished steel bar is incorporated into a wide range of consumer, industrial, aerospace and military products,” said CFSBI Chairman William Geary, who is also President of Nelsen Steel Company. “Essentially any product that contains a motor or moving part contains one or more components made from cold finished steel bar.”
Members of the CFSBI, Geary noted, produce materials “which are vital to a wide range of defense applications, including attack helicopters, armored vehicles, guns, smart bombs, aircraft, and ammunition as well as materials for critical infrastructure applications such as motor vehicles, bridge parts, oil and gas applications, and wind turbines.”
These member companies are facing “extraordinary challenges from foreign producers,” while at the same time, “the US market for cold finished steel bar has declined precipitously,” Geary said. “Within the last 25 years, the demand for cold finished steel bar in the US has gone from about 2.5 million tons per year to about 1 million tons per year today.”
“The bottom line is that we need help, and soon,” Geary said. “We respectfully urge that any remedy determined in the Section 232 case apply not only to the cold finished steel bar we produce, but also to downstream component parts made by our customers which are then incorporated into subassemblies, motors, a multitude of industrial and infrastructure applications, and of course, various weapons and defense systems, which are absolutely critical to the protection of our country.”