After US President Obama's annual State of the Union speech on Tuesday, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) issued a press release in reaction to several of Obama's specific stated goals. Comments from Thomas J. Gibson, President and CEO of the AISI included:
"Our industry is the most energy efficient steel industry with the lightest environmental footprint on the planet. Coupled with our abundant raw materials, this is simply the best place in the world to make the steel that the world needs to develop, improve our quality of life and to become even more energy efficient. We can compete with anyone, as long as trade is truly free and fair, and we do not impose unreasonable, unilateral requirements on our industry that many of our international competitors have no intention of adopting themselves.
In the trade arena, we appreciate progress the Administration has made on trade law enforcement. However, the massive trade imbalance we have with China that has claimed 2.4 million American manufacturing jobs still must be addressed, and it will require continued toughness to get China to play by the rules.
America's high-tech, sustainable steel industry is an important industry of the future that will continue to achieve global leadership on the strength of our advanced technologies. However, currently, funding for government-industry partnerships to develop new breakthrough technologies is at an all-time low within the Department of Energy's Industrial Technologies Program (ITP)-this at a time when government-industry partnerships to develop new steelmaking technologies in Europe stand at over 500 million Euro over five years.
We agree and have long maintained that an effective and efficient transportation infrastructure directly impacts the competitiveness of the manufacturing sector, creates significant demand for steel fabricated products, and creates valuable jobs."
Full commentary can be found on AISI's website, www.steel.org.