Letter to Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross - Inquiry About Steel dumping Investigation Outcome

Letter

Dear Secretary Ross,

Today, I write to follow-up to your statement at the Department of Commerce's Public Hearing on Section 232 National Security Investigation of Imports of Steel that the ensuing investigation and report would be finished by June 2017. As I emphasized in my testimony at the public hearing we cannot slow walk a national response that cedes our domestic steel's future, to a rigged predatory set of practices by other nations that win market share by violating the rules.

Yet, we are now nearly six weeks after a deadline you set yourself, for which thousands of steelworkers across the country who heard your promise for speedy action continue to wait. It is they who truly deserve an immediate response and plan for action from this Administration. Action to:

Stop foreign dumping of steel on our market, beginning with tubular piping;
Preserve modernized capacity so our nation can maintain our strategic industrial and defense bases;
Develop bridge financing using the full Executive power of the Administration to secure modernized US steel production capacity, economic development and trade adjustment assistance to communities and workers harmed by dumping, and to neutralize the negative impact of the VAT tax;
Prescribe immediate retaliatory means to halt circumvention by China, South Korea, Russia, India, Vietnam and any state-directed economy that continues to harm the US.
According to Section 232, the Department of Commerce has 270 days to complete an investigation. I urged this Administration at the hearing to expedite this schedule and work as quickly as possible. But your deadline has come and gone and the lives of Americans are at risk and Ohio steelworkers and businesses simply do not have time to wait. I now ask for an update on when these workers can expect the completion of this important investigation?

Again, I believe it important to see firsthand the impact our communities face in light of steel dumping. I re-extend to you the invitation to visit Lorain, Ohio in the near future so you can discuss with steelworkers and their families the Administration's plan to restore strength by creating a level playing field for U.S. steel producers.

Sincerely,

Source