Bush rejects Chinese pipe quotas; jobs at risk

Pipe plants, and perhaps whole companies, will close, a consultant says.
By DON SHILLING
VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR
Jobs at area pipe plants are in jeopardy because President Bush refused to place quotas on Chinese imports, local officials say.
The president said Friday that quotas would hurt the American economy and not help the industry because other countries would send in pipe to fill the gap.
The decision could devastate the American producers of standard pipe, which is used in sprinkler systems, air conditioning and fencing, said Tamara Browne, who works for a consulting firm that aided the industry.
"There will be people who lose their jobs over this. Plants will go, and companies may even go," said Browne, who is government affairs director for Schagrin Associates.
Local manufacturers
Two area companies -- Wheatland Tube Co. and Sharon Tube Co. -- were among the seven producers that filed the trade complaint. Both have been blaming expanding Chinese imports for recent struggles.
Wheatland Tube, the industry's largest U.S. producer, already has laid off 250 of its 1,000 workers in Wheatland, Sharon and Warren. Other workers have had their hours cut.
A company official said earlier that Wheatland Tube may have to close one of its plants if quotas weren't imposed. It's costly to run plants that are operating below capacity, said Bill Kerins, vice president of operations.
He and officials at Sharon Tube could not be reached Friday.
Overall, the standard pipe industry employs 2,500. About 400 of those workers have been laid off and many others have had hours reduced, Browne said.
Other businesses hurt
Steel mills, which supply flat-rolled steel to the pipe producers, and trucking companies also are being hurt, she said.
Gary Hubbard, a spokesman for the United Steelworkers of America, said China targeted the standard pipe industry three years ago in an attempt to destroy local producers.
Chinese imports have surged from 10,000 tons in 2002 to an estimated 380,000 tons this year. The domestic industry says the low-cost imports are unfair because the Chinese producers are subsidized by their government.
Requesting quotas
In exchange for granting China "most favored nation" trading status in 2000, Congress provided a way for domestic industries to request quotas.
The pipe case was the third case sent to the president after U.S. International Trade Commission found evidence of unfair trading by China, and recommended quotas. All have been denied by the president.
U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland of Lisbon, D-6th, said the president's statement Friday was "shameful."
"The Bush administration is bowing to international pressure at the expense of American workers and our manufacturing base," Strickland said.
The pipe industry asked for Chinese imports to be capped at 90,000 tons a year, while the ITC recommended 160,000 tons.
President Bush said the industry would not have been helped by the quotas. More than 50 countries supply the U.S. market, and these countries would have stepped up shipments if Chinese supplies were limited, he said.
He added that quotas would be bad for the U.S. economy. The cost to consumers would be five times higher than the additional income that would be provided to the industry, he said.
Browne said these were the same reasons stated in the other two trade cases that were denied.
With the president's action, it is doubtful that any other industry would take the time to file a similar case, she said.