Order Completes Findings by U.S. Investigation that Include Dumping, Subsidy Violations
Contact: Gary Hubbard, 202-778-4384 (O); 202-256-8125 (C); ghubbard@usw.org
Washington D.C. (Oct. 15, 2010) – The United Steelworkers (USW) applauded today’s 6-0 affirmative vote by the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) on a joint petition with U.S. pipe makers against China imports of seamless carbon and alloy steel line and pressure pipe.
“This is the sixth successful trade case against China imported pipe products we’ve participated since June 2007,” said USW International President Leo W. Gerard. “All affirm the predatory practices of dumping and subsidy that steal good American jobs.”
Gerard adds that while the number of domestic production workers making seamless pipe are relatively small, more than half of the 500 employed in making this specialized pipe have lost their jobs since 2008. Seamless carbon steel pipe can range up to 16-inches in diameter and is mostly used in petro-chemical processing and refining applications.
Tom Conway, USW International Vice President, who testified at the ITC hearing this past September, said: “Once again, the fate of USW members rests with the enforcement of our trade remedy laws. The USW-represented workers continually take the brunt of deliberate Chinese government policies that are not based on market principles, but rather on a model of state capitalism grounded in strategic goals for achieving market share in export markets and in ensuring that it is creating jobs for its workers.”
In addition to the USW, the petitioners included U.S. Steel Corp., with pipe plants in Lorain, OH and Fairfield, AL; TMK IPSCO in Western Pennsylvania; and V&M Star in Texas.
The U.S. Commerce Dept. will now make final adjustments in the anti-dumping duties announced in September ranging from 48.99 percent to 98.74 percent to offset below-market pricing by Chinese exporters. It also said it would levy final countervailing duties of 13.66 percent to 53.65 percent to offset Chinese government subsidies.
According to the government investigation, the U.S. imported $182.3 million of the seamless steel pipe from China in 2009, down from $487.2 million in 2008. Much of the reduction occurred when the trade case was filed last year.
Roger B. Schagrin, trade counsel for the petitioners of Washington-based Schagrin Associates, cited China’s seamless steel pipe production capacity of 20 million tons exceeds both that nation’s market needs and the worldwide demand for seamless products.
For testimony by Conway on the seamless pipe case, Click Here.
# # #