The current headwinds impacting the US steel industry are not just a domestic problem, but a global crisis, US lawmakers said Tuesday during a hearing on the state of the industry.
At the start of a two-day hearing hosted by the Office of the US Trade Representative and Department of Commerce in Washington, a panel of lawmakers called on the USTR and Commerce to act swiftly and deliberately to address ongoing US steel industry issues stemming from global overcapacity and an influx of unfairly traded imports.
The current crisis facing the US steel industry is far deeper than the one it faced 15 years ago, said Representative Sander Levin, Democrat-Michigan.
"There is a crisis in the steel industry and aluminum industry, but no one is crying wolf; this is real," Levin said.
Global crude steelmaking capacity more than doubled between 2000 and 2014, led by an unprecedented expansion in capacity in China, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Global steelmaking capacity is expected to grow even further in the period between 2015 and 2017 to 2.36 billion mt, about 700 million mt above global steel demand in 2015.
Global demand for steel is weakening, particularly in China, leaving US producers vulnerable to the effects of unfairly priced imports from countries that subsidize their steel sectors, Levin said.
US producers have taken steps through antidumping and countervailing trade cases in an attempt to level the playing field, but to truly address issues with overcapacity, particularly in China, the solution should be global, with all options on the table.
In addition to domestic actions such as use of Section 201 of the Trade Act of 1974 and Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, issues with China's overcapacity should be brought to and addressed by the World Trade Organization.
Commerce and the International Trade Commission need to also more deliberately and effectively enforce trade legislation that was recently passed through the American Trade Facilitation and Effectiveness Act and Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act, said Representative Peter Visclosky, Democrat-Indiana.
"Significant and deliberate action needs to be taken or more steelworkers will lose their jobs," said US Senator Sherrod Brown, Democrat-Ohio.
