Brown, Portman Seek Protection for OCTG
WASHINGTON -- Ohio's two U.S. senators called on the U.S. Department of Commerce to protect Ohio-based companies including V&M Star in Youngstown from illegal Chinese trade practices by maintaining duties on Chinese steel pipe imports.
The effort by U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown and Rob Portman comes in advance of an expected Commerce Department ruling this week on a petition regarding product coverage for duties ordered on oil country tubular goods from China. OCTG are used for domestic oil exploration, particularly in the shale industry, and are produced in Ohio by companies including V&M, U.S. Steel in Lorain, Wheatland Tube in Warren, and JMC Steel in Brookfield.
"Ohio-based companies that produce oil country tubular goods support many good jobs in our state,” Portman, R-Ohio, said. “Unfortunately, our businesses and thousands of American workers are at risk if important trade protections are watered-down, allowing cheap Chinese products to flood our domestic markets. American manufactured goods must be allowed to compete with their global competitors on a level playing field.”
“U.S. Steel is a vital part of Lorain’s and Ohio’s economies and must be defended from unfairly traded Chinese imports,” Brown said. “We have trade laws to defend companies like U.S. Steel who work hard and play by the rules. Import duties ensure others do the same so we can continue to build things and create jobs in Ohio and the United States.”
In their letter to Rebecca Blank, acting commerce secretary, the senators urged the department to maintain antidumping and countervailing duty orders on Chinese OCTG, and to extend efforts to prevent "circumvention and evasion" of the orders, which since 2010 have been "instrumental" in helping to level the playing field against unfair trade practices by China.
Earlier this month, Portman and Brown, who pursued efforts to ensure U.S. Steel was provided necessary relief from Chinese steel pipe imports, applauded U.S. Steel's announcement that it would consider expanding its steeling operations in Lorain. In December 2012, Portman and Brown led a group of senators in urging the department to maintain antidumping duties and countervailing duties on Chinese steel pipe imports.
Portman and Brown’s letter to Blank follows:
We understand that a ruling is forthcoming and want to again urge the Department of Commerce to maintain the scope of antidumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) orders on oil country tubular goods (OCTG) from China, and extend all efforts within your authority to prevent circumvention and evasion of these orders which have provided relief to the U.S. industry and American workers hurt by dumped and subsidized OCTG imports from China. Since 2010, these orders have been instrumental in helping to level the trade playing field against China’s unfair trade practices and protect jobs in our states.
Unfortunately, these orders have been undermined by a variety of schemes designed to weaken them. These efforts include outright evasion and circumvention of the orders as well as less obvious but equally harmful attempts to narrow their scope. If successful, these ploys will enable Chinese companies to dump massive quantities of subsidized Chinese OCTG into the United States without paying the AD and CVD duties that they rightfully owe. The consequences are significant. Chinese actions will result in further injury to the thousands of American workers and businesses as well as the weakening of U.S. trade law.
Therefore, it is essential that the United States effectively enforce these AD and CVD orders against the full range of Chinese OCTG products. For example, it is critical that the Department emphasize to those who would seek to narrow the scope of the orders that mere processing of OCTG from China in third countries through heat treatment or other finishing operations does not change its country-of-origin to exempt it from AD and CVD duties. More generally, it is important that the Department work closely with U.S. Customs and Border Protection to make sure that schemes to evade these orders are detected and prevented.
Thank you for your consideration and your continued work to ensure that the AD and CVD orders are effectively administered and strongly enforced.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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