The Congressional Steel Caucus sent a letter to President Trump expressing support for the Department of Commerce’s Section 232 investigation of the impact of steel imports on national security. Specifically, the Caucus encourages Section 232 remedies to apply broadly to the full spectrum of steel products, avoid exceptions that could be exploited by dumping or circumvention by foreign producers and be sustained for a significant period to ensure the industry’s vitality.
The remedy recommendations are in line with US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross' recent comments via conference call to an economic event in Berlin this week. “The US might have no choice but to resort to broad-scale measures to fight the problem of steel dumping,” he said. Ross proceeded to add that even countries that are not direct sources of dumping could be affected, concluding that any dumping actions are in the hope of provoking a collective solution by importing nations as well as to address the global over-supply situation, which inevitably referred to China. While China has diminished its import effect in the US market, the administration sees its actions in the global steel market as negatively affecting the competitiveness of the US steel industry.