US to impose steep tariffs on Chinese pipe imports

Staff report

youngstown

The U.S. Commerce Department handed a hard-fought victory to the United Steelworkers union and local steel-pipe manufacturers V&M Star and TMK IPSCO this week.

The department announced plans to impose steep anti- dumping and countervailing duties on Chinese seamless-steel pipe imports Monday, in response to a petition for import relief filed by the USW, V&M Star and TMK IPSCO.

The tariffs will go into effect pending next month’s final ruling from the U.S. International Trade Commission on whether Chinese imports have caused material harm to domestic steel manufacturers.

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown and U.S. Rep. Jason Altmire of McCandless, Pa., D-4th, testified before the ITC Tuesday on behalf of steelworkers in Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Steelmakers — including V&M Star, TMK IPSCO and U.S. Steel — recently have expanded their seamless-pipe operations in the region in response to increased natural-gas exploration in the Marcellus Shale.

V&M Star is in the process of building a $650 million expansion of its seamless-pipe operations in Youngstown. TMK IPSCO, which has facilities in Ambridge and Koppel, Pa., recently began production at a new manufacturing facility in Brookfield.