Today, United States Steel Corporation President and CEO Mario Longhi joined fellow steel industry executives and Leo Gerard, international president of the United Steelworkers, in pressing Congress to maintain America’s economic and national security by halting unfair trade practices and enforcing the country’s trade laws. Longhi encouraged action against illegal dumping of Oil Country Tubular Goods by South Korea and others who threaten American jobs, infrastructure and our national security.
While testifying before the Congressional Steel Caucus, Longhi emphasized that the issue of fair trade is “a matter of utmost importance to our employees, our company, our industry and our country.” U.S. Steel employs more than 24,000 employees domestically and is the nation’s largest producer of tubular products headquartered in the United States. U. S. Steel’s domestic position in the tubular market makes the “alarmingly rapid and intense surge of imported OCTG (Oil Country Tubular Goods) products into the market” to be of particular concern he stated.
“OCTG products are… integral to the building and maintenance of our nation’s critical infrastructure and must meet the highest safety and quality standards,” said Longhi when discussing the importance of the tubular goods products to the country’s energy infrastructure. He went on to state that “the evidence in this case clearly shows that OCTG products are being illegally dumped in what remains the most open and attractive market in the world at prices below fair value and in ways designed to circumvent our trade laws.”
Longhi made the point to discuss the ongoing trade case that U.S. Steel and others have brought before the Department of Commerce, the importance of ending the illegal dumping of OCTG products and the recent zero-margin preliminary decision in the case: “We are disappointed that the Department of Commerce … failed to recognize and punish illegal South Korean dumping … The government’s meaningful investigative work is typically performed during the final phase of the case – and that phase is now underway.”
Noting the “dire consequences that lie in wait for the American steel industry, and for the jobs of thousands of middle class workers,” Longhi reemphasized the need for swift action by official Washington on this trade issue by stating, “We rely on you, our government, to enforce these rules and punish the rule breakers…all we ask is for a level playing field – the one our trade laws promised we would have.”
ussteel.com
