Thomas J. Gibson, president and CEO of the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), today issued the following statement in response to the report released today by the Global Forum on Steel Excess Capacity:
“We are grateful and appreciative of the leadership and commitment of the US government to address the global steel overcapacity crisis and the market-distorting government policies and practices that have driven it. The massive build-up in steel capacity in other countries, which has fueled historic levels of unfairly traded imports into the US, is the most critical issue facing the steel industry today. The report of the Global Forum issued today properly focuses on the need for governments to eliminate market-distorting subsidies and other measures that contribute to excess capacity and to ensure a level playing field between private sector steel producers and state-owned enterprises. However, these and the other policy recommendations presented by the Global Forum will only be meaningful if they are actually implemented by governments. Promises alone will not solve the problems facing the global steel industry; concrete actions by governments must follow in short order.
“At the same time, continued aggressive enforcement of the full range of US trade laws, including Section 232 and our antidumping and countervailing duty laws, is critical to ensure that the US industry is not further damaged by unfair trade in steel. In our view, a trade policy that couples vigorous enforcement with continued international engagement offers the best opportunity for successfully addressing the global overcapacity crisis in steel.”