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Local officials go to D.C. to seek trade sanctions
A decision on trade sanctions on Chinese steel tube is expected next month.
MERCER, Pa. — A contingent of county residents traveled to Washington, D.C., to ask the United States International Trade Commission to protect the local steel tube industry against Chinese dumping.
Commissioner Brian Beader was in the group, which included 50 employees and management from the Wheatland Tube Division and some members of the United Steelworkers of America. The trip was Tuesday.
Beader said at Wednesday’s commissioners’ work session the ITC will decide June 20 whether to impose permanent trade sanctions on importation of Chinese steel tube.
He commented that competition from China is hurting the domestic industry. Mercer once had five tube mills, now there is only one, he added.
Others speaking on behalf of the local industry were Bill Kerins, president of the Wheatland Tube Division, a John Maneely Co., and Mark Magno, vice president of Standard Pipe, Fence and Sprinkler Sales, Wheatland and Sharon Tube. The John Maneely Co., with operations in Sharon and Wheatland, is the largest producer of circular welded pipe in the United States.
Circular welded steel pipe products are used in plumbing, heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, sprinklers, fencing and construction.
Beader said that in 2005 Wheatland Tube joined with six other domestic pipe producers to file a petition showing that a surge in Chinese pipe imports was injuring American pipe producers.
Chinese pipe cost less than the cost of raw materials at the time, and the ITC agreed that assistance was appropriate, but President Bush rejected the recommendation.
In August 2006, the Sharon facility of Wheatland Tube shut down because it could no longer compete. The result was the loss of 257 jobs which had paid an average of $25 hourly.
In January this year, however, according to Reuters News Service, the U.S. Commerce Department ruled that Chinese producers were dumping pipe and imposed dumping duties on Chinese pipe exports that averaged 25.67 percent. These were in addition to anti-subsidy duties imposed by the Commerce Department in November 2007 when the department determined that China was illegally subsidizing Chinese pipe makers.
U.S. Rep. Jason Altmire of McCandless, D-4th, and Rep. Phil English of Erie, R-3rd — who also testified at Tuesday’s hearing — announced earlier this month they are sponsoring legislation to establish congressional review of the president’s decisions regarding whether to provide temporary relief in the form of import duties or quotas to American companies facing market disruptions caused by Chinese imports.
U.S. Sens. Arlen Specter, R, and Robert P. Casey Jr., D, of Pennsylvania also testified before the ITC.