pittsburgh Producers, union launch ads to keep steel tariffs

The commercials use parts of Bush's Labor Day speech this year.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- A coalition of steel producers and the United Steelworkers of America launched a television and radio ad campaign Tuesday that urges President Bush to keep tariffs on steel imports in place for the duration of the three-year program.
Stand Up For Steel's week-to-10-day campaign features 30- and 60-second ads that use snippets of a recorded speech Bush delivered on Labor Day this year. The ads will be aired in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Washington, D.C.
What Bush said
As the commercial flashes images of the president, Bush is heard saying, "One way to make sure that ... the manufacturing sector does well is to send a message overseas -- say, look, we expect there to be a fair playing field when it comes to trade."
"That is what President Bush's three-year steel program is all about," a narrator says, "helping a vital manufacturing industry recover from years of illegal trade. Just halfway through the plan, it's starting to work."
Report on tariffs
Bush imposed tariffs of up to 30 percent on imported steel in March 2002 to help ailing U.S. steel manufacturers. The tariffs are supposed to be in place until 2005, but Bush may decide to eliminate them after this Friday, when he is scheduled to receive a report on the tariffs from the U.S. International Trade Commission. The World Trade Organization has ruled that the tariffs violate global trade laws.
Opponents of the tariffs argue that they hurt manufacturers and steel consumers, in some cases forcing them offshore.
Steelworkers President Leo W. Gerard said the tariffs have given the domestic steel industry time to restructure, consolidate and work out new agreements with labor unions. Thanks to the tariffs, steel prices have stabilized and steel companies are returning to profitability, the United Steelworkers said.