The
Columbus Dispatch
January 18, 2003
Letters To The Editor: "Steel Tariffs simply
led to price increases"
A report contained within a Dec. 29 Dispatch roundup of events
of 2002 (headlined "Steel tariffs: still drawing fire'') presented
an inaccurate and biased analysis of the steel tariffs issue. Washington
Bureau Chief Jonathan Riskind's assertion that President's Bush's
steel tariffs were in response to "dumping'' is wrong. Rather,
the Section 201 investigation that led to the tariffs only determined
whether increased imports were causing injury to the U.S. domestic-steel
industry.
Tariffs were supposed to give the domestic industry breathing space
to consolidate and become internationally competitive. International
Steel Group's purchase of LTV was announced before the March 5,
2002, tariff decision. There is no evidence that the domestic steel
industry has used this breathing space for anything except to raise
prices to the harm of steel consumers. Price increases severely
threaten the competitiveness of U.S. steel-using manufacturers.
Jim Cowan, president of V&M Star in Youngstown and co-chairman
of the Ohio Steel Council, was disingenuous in stating that the
volume of imported steel remains high. Steel imports were up in
2002 because the domestic steel industry imported semi-finished
steel at a record pace. Semi-finished steel, used exclusively by
the domestic-steel industry, was up 35 percent in 2002. Finished
steel imports, used by its customers, were down 1.5 percent.
The domestic steel industry keeps complaining about the imports,
for which the industry is responsible.
My organization is part of the Consuming Industries Trade Action
Coalition, which includes steel consumers and associations such
as the American Institute for International Steel, which was misidentified
in the article.
William E. Gaskin
President
Precision Metalforming Association
|
