US Congressman leads campaign for permanent steel monitoring

US Congressman leads campaign for permanent steel monitoring

On Thursday September 23, 2004 seventy members of the US Congress signed a letter written by Representative Pete Visclosky urging the US Department of Commerce (DOC) to make permanent the import monitoring and analysis program, which is set to expire on March 5, 2005. However, the Secretary of the US Department of Commerce, Donald Evans has indicated that the program may be terminated before its expiration date. The import monitoring and analysis program was designed to follow steel imports and protect the US domestic steel industry from dumping by foreign producers. As SteelOrbis previously reported at the beginning of August, Japanese steelmakers commented that if the US decides to continue the implementation of the import monitoring program, it should be in accordance with the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and should not implement a trade restrictive program.