Brown, Portman Urge Commerce Secretary To Stand Up For Ohio Jobs Affected By Illegally-Dumped Rebar

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Rob Portman (R-OH) today joined a bipartisan group of 31 U.S. Senators in a letter to Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker urging the Department to continue to investigate illegal dumping and subsidies on unfairly traded imports of steel reinforcing bars (rebar) from Turkey and Mexico. The successful conclusion of these investigations is critical to protecting American companies and workers making rebar, including Nucor Steel located in Marion and Cincinnati’s David J. Joseph Company, Byer Steel Group and Gerdau Long Steel. These companies must compete with illegally-dumped imports that are undercutting the U.S. market.

“Manufacturing is the backbone of the American economy and Ohio manufacturers can compete with any in the world,” Brown said. “But they deserve to compete on a level playing field. That means holding countries that violate trade law by illegally dumping their products into our markets accountable. When we do, we help ensure that American companies like Nucor Steel in Marion and Byer Steel in Cincinnati can continue to provide quality American-made rebar to help build the next generation of American infrastructure.”

“Ohio steelworkers can compete and win on a level playing-field, but Washington must stand up for American manufactured goods and prevent unfairly traded products from threatening jobs here at home,” Portman said. “I continue to urge the Commerce Department to enforce our trade laws to ensure that foreign competitors do not target the U.S. market with unfairly dumped rebar.”

In November 2013, the International Trade Commission (ITC) ruled in favor of continuing these unfair trade investigations on imports of steel concrete rebar from Mexico and Turkey. Earlier in 2013, to support U.S. rebar producers, Brown and Portman sent a letter in April to ITC Chairman Irving A. Williamson in advance of the ITC’s decision on the continuation of antidumping orders on unfairly traded imports of steel concrete rebar from China, Ukraine, Latvia, Belarus, Moldova, Poland, and Indonesia. 

The full text of the letter is below. 

The Honorable Penny Pritzker

Secretary of Commerce

U.S. Department of Commerce

1401 Constitution Avenue, N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20230

Dear Secretary Pritzker:

We write to you regarding countervailing duty and antidumping investigations being conducted by the U.S. Department of Commerce on imports of steel reinforcing bar (rebar) from Turkey and Mexico.  As the Department investigates dumping and subsidies, we respectfully request that the domestic rebar industry be given full consideration.  American businesses and workers expect that the Department will find dumping and subsidization where it is occurring, and will prosecute unfair trade practices to the full extent of the law. 

Rebar is one of the largest volume steel products produced in the U.S., employing more than 10,000 workers in over 30 states.  With nearly 7 million tons of domestic production, a healthy rebar Industry is critical to a strong economy.  However, it is our understanding that imports from Turkey and Mexico are surging into the U.S., nearly doubling from 2011 to 2013.  The widespread impact these unfairly-traded rebar imports are having on industry and communities across the country is extremely troubling and must be addressed. 

The International Trade Commission recently found that Mexican and Turkish rebar producers are consistently underselling U.S. producers, resulting in substantial lost sales and depressed prices.  Subsequently, the Department of Commerce made a preliminary finding that the Government of Turkey bestows energy subsidies to its rebar industry, but that such subsidies are only de minimis in value.  This seems surprising given the inherently energy-intensive nature of steel production. 

It is essential that we do everything that we can do to prevent unfairly-traded imports from negatively impacting good-paying American jobs, especially in these challenging economic times.  We urge you to take the necessary actions to strictly and fully enforce our trade laws.

Thank you in advance for your time and consideration of this critical issue.  

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