Trade Cases
January 2, 2018
2017: A Year of Trade Contention
Written by Sandy Williams
It was an unusually busy year for steel trade actions in the United States in 2017. January brought the nominations of Robert Lighthizer as U.S. Trade Representative and Wilbur Ross as Commerce Secretary. During his confirmation hearings, Ross said, “I’m not anti-trade, I’m pro-trade. But I’m pro-sensible trade. Not pro-trade that is to the disadvantage of the American worker and the American manufacturing community. I think we should provide access to our markets to those countries who play fair, play by the rules, and give everybody a fair chance to compete. Those who do not should not get away with it. They should be punished, and severely.”
That is pretty much what has happened since. Antidumping and circumvention investigations were initiated and/or completed on cut-to-length plate, stainless steel, steel concrete reinforcing bar, wire rod, OCTG, corrosion resistant steel, and cold drawn mechanical tubing (CORE), as well as downstream products like steel tool chests and washing machines. Significantly, severe duties were assigned in most of the cases.
