The United Steelworkers (USW) labor union has reacted positively to an affirmative unanimous vote by the US International Trade Commission (ITC) on December 30 regarding the anti-subsidy/countervailing duties portion of a case against oil country tubular goods (OCTG) imported from China, a press release by the organization has said.
Commenting on the vote, the president of USW International, Leo W. Gerard, declared, "The vote by the trade commission makes it clear to American pipe workers and industry that the US government will stand up against China's violation of fair trade rules when domestic job losses and industry injury are clearly demonstrated."
Mr. Gerard said that the future of 6,000 workers employed by eight OCTG pipe producers and their communities are at stake in an industry segment where nearly half of the domestic workforce has been laid off at different times since the case was jointly filed in April by the USW and the participating companies. In addition to the USW as co-petitioner, the eight producers on the OCTG petition are: U.S. Steel Corp., Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.; Maverick Tube Corp., Hickman, Arkansas.; Evraz Rocky Mountain Steel, Pueblo, Colorado.; Northwest Pipe, Vancouver, Washington.; TMK IPSCO, Downers Grove, Illinois.; V&M Star, LLP, Houston, Texas.; V&M TCA, Houston, Texas.; and Wheatland Tube Corp., Beachwood, Ohio.
Gerard testified before the ITC on December 1, 2009 at the final injury hearing, stating that domestic OCTG pipe producers had lost 2,421 workers between the end of 2008 and September 2009. The pipe imports case is the largest in US history with imports valued at $2.6 billion in 2008, the USW press release stated.
The level of countervailing duties to be imposed on Chinese products in mid-January ranges from 10.5 to 16 percent. The antidumping (AD) portion of the pending trade case against OCTG imports from China will be decided on April 1, 2010. Preliminary AD duties of 96 percent are currently pending against all but one of the Chinese exporters.