Strong US government action is needed soon to stop "subsidised" steel imports from China, top industry officials said on Wednesday. "It's reaching the level where it's a serious concern," John Surma, chief executive officer of US Steel Corp, told reporters after meetings with lawmakers and a top US Commerce Department official.
Government subsidies have fuelled a doubling of Chinese steel production over the last three years to more than 400 million tonnes in 2006, Surma said. "I don't want to see that increase by another 100 million tonnes this year," Surma said.
The rapid expansion has helped boost China's steel exports to the United States to about 5.4 million tonnes in 2006, from minimal levels just two or three years ago.
The US steel industry wants action from both the Bush administration and Congress before the situation gets worse, said Leo Gerard, president of the United Steelworkers Union, who accompanied Surma to the meetings.
Sen. Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat, introduced a bill this week that revamps US trade remedy laws to make it easier to win import relief against China, Gerard said.
The US Trade Representative's office also has indicated it could bring a complaint at the World Trade Organisation against China's steel subsidies, Surma said. One policy change included in Rockefeller's bill - to allow the use of countervailing duties against non-market economies like China's - is already being considered by the Commerce Department in response to industry pressure.
The Commerce Department is expected to make a decision on that issue by early April. Its decades-old position has been that it is impossible to determine subsidies in non-market economies in order to apply countervailing duties. But many manufacturers and lawmakers believe that view is outdated.
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