John W. Martin III, CEO of Mar-Mac Wire, discussed his frustrations with the current trade law system at SteelOrbis’ sixth annual Rebar & Wire Rod conference in Las Vegas February 2, stating that “justice might be blind but it sure is expensive.” In particular, he pointed out the requirements under which US companies must prove existing injury when petitioning the Department of Commerce are so difficult and prohibitive that they are often unable to curtail what is actually an accelerating import trend.
Another kink in the flow of import justice is the relationship between trade laws and Buy American provisions, or rather, the lack of acknowledgement of such a relationship that is doing a disservice to both importers and domestic producers. Also, while Martin said Buy American provisions have been a “boon” to his business, they force many companies to keep “dual inventories” which is difficult to manage and often result in companies simply not bothering to carry imports at all. Overall, Martin said he thinks imports have a place in the market, and producers, importers, trade legislators and everyone in between should make more of an effort to work together instead of at odds.