Friday, September 13, 2013WASHINGTON -- U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, vice chairman of the Senate Steel Caucus, called for greater efforts to protect domestic steel producers at a meeting Thursday of the caucus and senior steel executives that focused on the state of the industry.
Specifically, his concern is “the scourge of foreign competitors whose unfair and illegal trade practices put U.S. companies, including several based in Ohio, at an unfair disadvantage in the international market,” his spokesman said.
“As our trade deficit continues to widen, our need to level the playing field for domestic steel producers becomes more urgent,” Brown to the industry executves. “Our workers can compete with anyone in the world when on a level playing field. That is why we must enforce international law and impose import duties to counteract illegal trade practices from foreign competitors like China. That is also why we should pass my bipartisan legislation, the Currency Exchange Rate Oversight Reform Act of 2013, to protect U.S. manufacturers and punish countries that misalign their currency.”
At the meeting, caucus and steel representatives reviewed the state of the industry, current challenges and how policy areas, especially trade, have affected business or employment, a spokesman for the senator reported. With Brown were Sens. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., Pat Toomey, R-Pa. The meeting was hosted by the American Iron and Steel Institute, Steel Manufacturing Association, Specialty Steel Industry of North America and the Committee on Pipe and Tube Imports.
Ohio-based companies at the meeting were Allegheny Technologies Inc., Louisville; ArcelorMittal, Cleveland and Marion; Cliffs Natural Resources, Cleveland; Nucor Steel, Marion; Timken, Canton; and Vallourec Star, Youngstown.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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