The Rebar Trade Action Coalition (RTAC), a coalition of US rebar producers, filed petitions yesterday asking the US Department of Commerce and the International Trade Commission to conduct antidumping investigations into imports of reinforcing bars from Japan, Taiwan, and Turkey, and a countervailing duty investigation into imports of rebar from Turkey.
Speaking on behalf of the producers and exporters of long steel products; IREPAS Chairman Murat Cebecioglu said the dumping margins alleged by the US coalition of rebar producers are ungrounded. The IREPAS Chairman emphasized that almost the same group of US producers had filed similar petitions exactly three years ago against rebar imports from Turkey but the US Department of Commerce had calculated the final dumping margins as zero back then.
“Free trade is one of the few unambiguously good things and it is based on the idea of comparative advantage. Free trade has allowed more wealth creation than any other economic order. It has benefited the US and Europe enormously throughout the history, and still does. Most commodities are freely traded around the world and this allows resources to flow to their best use. Countries and companies that have embraced this message have thrived and prospered. Those that tried to close themselves off from this trend have not. Competition increases efficiency and serves customers and the public. Today, as always, there is much support for tariffs labeled as protection. Many countries try to protect themselves from unfairly priced imports. One voice that is hardly ever raised is the consumer’s. Protection means exploiting the consumer unless it is justified that imports have an unfair competitive advantage. IREPAS always supports free and fair trade in steel.” Mr. Cebecioglu commented.