4 domestic steelmakers post slight profit
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Four domestic steel producers collectively posted a slight profit in the year immediately after U.S. tariffs were imposed on imported steel, industry attorneys said Monday.
The 0.8 percent profit comes after three years of "major" losses, according to the attorneys, who hope to convince a federal trade panel that the tariffs have begun to stabilize the industry, and need to stay in place until March 2005.
"They are in the black by that amount," said attorney Alan Wolff, who represents Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel. "They were in a major loss position in the prior three years."
Who they are
According to public financial documents, the four domestic companies that, together, turned a profit between April 2002 and March 2003 are: U.S. Steel, Nucor Steel of Charlotte, N.C.; Steel Dynamics, Inc., of Ft. Wayne, Ind.; and National Steel of Mishawaka, Ind. U.S. Steel acquired National Steel in May.
But industry leaders and steelworker labor unions fear that eliminating the tariffs -- as the Bush administration could do this fall -- would immediately bring domestic steel producers back to their knees.
The tariffs, ranging from 8 percent to 30 percent, were slapped on certain kinds of imported steel last year.