WARREN Hart says tariffs help steel

THE VINDICATOR, YOUNGSTOWN
WARREN -- U.S. Rep. Melissa Hart, vice chairman of the Congressional Steel Caucus, said high tariffs on foreign steel have significantly helped the steel industry.
"We've seen improvements in businesses since the tariffs were passed," said Hart, a Bradford Woods, Pa., Republican whose district includes Lawrence County. "Tariffs have made a difference."
Hart was at Thomas Steel Strip Corp., which employs nearly 600 people, Thursday to discuss the steel industry and to give her endorsement to state Rep. Ann Womer Benjamin of Aurora, who is running as the Republican nominee in the 17th Congressional District race.
The tariffs, some as high as 30 percent, were imposed by the president in March to protect the ailing domestic steel industry.
There were certain companies, including Thomas Steel, which received an exemption from the tariff for the purchase of battery-quality, hot-band steel, which it buys from a Netherlands mill.
U.S. Rep. Phil English of Erie, chairman of the Congressional Steel Caucus, will visit the Valley next week also to endorse Womer Benjamin.
Womer Benjamin, who went to Washington, D.C., earlier this year to support the imposition of steel tariffs, said one of her main focuses if elected to Congress would be to protect the steel industry.