The Steelworkers hailed the latest ruling. The union represents both workers who make the specialized pipe for the refineries and workers — members of the former Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers — and refinery workers who use and tend to the pipe
– By Mark Gruenberg, Press Associates, Inc. –
A definitive 6-0 ruling by the U.S. International Trade Commission that China illegally subsidized its exports of pipe to the U.S. cheered both the Steelworkers, who brought the case, and a coalition of steel-area lawmakers.
The panel’s decision, the final word in the case, imposed anti-dumping tariffs of 30%-99.2% on Chinese oil country tubular pipe. It follows a prior ITC ruling against Chinese subsidies of its pipe manufacturers, upheld by Democratic President Barack Obama. That ruling imposed tariffs of 10%-16%.
The Steelworkers hailed the latest ruling. The union represents both workers who make the specialized pipe for the refineries and workers — members of the former Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers — and refinery workers who use and tend to the pipe.
The union predicted the ruling would restore some of the jobs that U.S. pipe workers lost to the Chinese pipe makers. USW presented evidence to the federal agency showing the domestic oil tubular pipe industry lost 2,421 jobs to the imports just in the first 9 months of 2009 alone.
China dumped the pipe, below cost, on the U.S.
USW Vice President Tom Conway said the tariffs on the pipe are timely, because the U.S. oil and gas industry plans to again increase production. That increases the need for the tubular pipe that oil refineries and other production facilities use.
“We now can expect callback of laid-off American pipe workers who can share in the recovery of this industry with sustainable jobs as the inventory of illegally traded Chinese pipe is eliminated,” Conway said.
“We are pleased our government investigated the evidence of China’s trade violations and cited stiff penalties. China’s state-owned steel pipe exporters are predators seeking to steal American jobs and destroy our domestic industries in violation of their trade obligations,” added union President Leo Gerard.
“When the anti-dumping duties are added to those already being collected since January for Chinese subsidized oil tubular goods, we will have — at minimum -– an effective 40% tariff rate. China’s cheating with subsidized and dumped imports are now going to be a bad deal,” Gerard declared.
Roger Schragin, the trade attorney who handled the case for USW and the eight U.S. companies that joined its complaint, said most Chinese oil pipe makers would face a 30% tariff, starting this month, on top of the 10%-16% tariff imposed previously. But one big Chinese manufacturer gets hit with a 99.2% tariff in the new ruling, he said. “They submitted false documents to the ITC,” Schragin explained.
The House Steel Caucus also welcomed the ITC ruling. Its leaders were among dozens of lawmakers who wrote letters or testified to the commission, backing the Steelworkers’ stand against the Chinese pipe.
“The decision by the ITC will allow the Department of Commerce to create a fair steel market by imposing anti-dumping duties on Oil Country Tubular Goods (OCTG), also known as oil well drill pipe, from China,” said caucus co-chair Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-Ind. While ITC gave U.S. steelworkers a win, the ruling “is just the latest reminder that China cheats at trade,” he added.
“Unfairly-traded imports from China dramatically changed the domestic market for oil well drill pipe and posed a substantial, severe, and imminent threat to U.S. steel producers,” added caucus co-chair Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Pa. “By dumping a record $2.8 billion in steel in the U.S., China caused significant harm to our domestic steel industry.”