Letter to the Hon. Penny Pritzker, U.S. Department of Commerce - Expedited Ruling from International Trade Administration for Ashland's AK Steel Plant

Letter

Dear Secretary Pritzker:

I urge the International Trade Administration to issue a final ruling before December 18th on corrosion resistant steel (CORE) imports. Previous rulings from the ITA and the U.S. International Trade Commission have indicated there is substantial evidence China, India, Italy, South Korea and Taiwan are providing CORE imports at an unfair market price.

AK Steel and five other domestic steel producers have accused China, India, Italy, South Korea and Taiwan of purposefully undervaluing their CORE imports in order to increase market share in the U.S. AK Steel and plaintiffs filed their complaint on June 3, 2015.

The ITC commission issued a unanimous preliminary decision on July 16, 2015, making a determination that five import countries are causing harm to the domestic steel industry. In November, ITA makes a determination that five countries are devaluing the price of their CORE imports.

On October 16, 2015, AK Steel sent a letter to the mayor of Ashland, Kentucky, stating the company would temporarily layoff employees at the local steel plant and said the, "onslaught of unfairly traded imports, "was one of the reasons for the layoffs. The plant employs over 700 people from the local area. If the plant were to shutdown, not only would there be hundreds of people unemployed but surrounding businesses would also be affected.

The temporary layoffs are to occur between December 18th and December 30th.

I respectfully request that you give a determination on this case before December 18th. This will allow the company, and the community in general, to incorporate your response into the decisions regarding the status of the layoffs in Ashland.

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