Dumping Cases Affect Steels Not Manufactured in USA

Steel Market Update received a note from trade attorney Lewis E. Leibowitz regarding an “ex parte” memorandum from former Michigan Governor and current President of the Business Rountable, John Engler, about the AD investigation of imports of cold rolled steel from Japan. Mr. Engler was intervening on behalf of Steelcase and their subsidiary PolyVision which manufacturers “white boards” for schools out of their manufacturing facility located in Oklahoma.

Leibowitz told SMU in his note, “…The US producer said its product used certain steel it could not obtain domestically but was nevertheless subject to the case. Commerce explained that there was nothing it could do, at least not right away. This highlights the long-term problem of AD and CVD cases.  If they are effective at excluding competitive steel that is not made in the US, then US steel users must use what they can get or move their production to a country where they can get what they need. Over time, the customer base will shrink, jeopardizing far more jobs than the orders will ever save.”