WASHINGTON — The Steel Manufacturers Association announced today it has joined with six steel industry organizations to urge House Speaker Mike Johnson to include the bipartisan Leveling the Playing Field 2.0 Act in a proposed package of legislation designed to strengthen America’s defenses against China’s unfair trade practices.
Joining the SMA in signing the letter are the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM), the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC), the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), the Committee on Pipe and Tube Imports (CPTI), the Specialty Steel Industry of North America (SSINA) and the United Steelworkers (USW).
“Any legislative package on China needs to address its most dangerous methods of destroying American jobs and industries,” the letter says. “We urge you to support American workers and industry and show China that it cannot simply continue to dodge our trade remedies. Passing the Leveling the Playing Field 2.0 Act will send a strong signal that we will not stand by idly as China attempts to dominate manufacturing globally.”
SMA President Philip K. Bell said, “The Leveling the Playing Field 2.0 Act, which has strong bipartisan support in both the House and the Senate, gives the U.S. government the tools it needs to improve enforcement of trade laws that China has been exploiting, particularly through transshipment of heavily subsidized steel products that are then illegally dumped in the U.S. market. We urgently need this legislation to put a stop to unfair trade practices that hurt steel producers in America and their workers, and we want to make sure Speaker Johnson knows how important it is to include Leveling in the upcoming China package.”
Kevin Dempsey, president and CEO of the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), said, “Trade distorting policies by governments around the world continue to result in dumped and subsidized imports of steel that injure or threaten to injure American steel producers. China, for example, is massively subsidizing new steel capacity beyond its borders through the Belt and Road Initiative. Unfortunately, our trade laws as currently drafted cannot effectively address the Chinese subsidized steel from these export-oriented mills in Southeast Asia. We need the Leveling the Playing Field 2.0 Act to update our laws to address cross-border subsidization and other similar trade challenges. By strengthening our trade laws, this bill will help give the American public confidence that their government has every tool available to fight for the American steel industry and our workers. As the Speaker works to build out a legislative proposal to address China’s unfair trade practices, it is imperative that such a proposal include trade enforcement measures like Leveling the Playing Field 2.0.”
“The U.S. steel pipe, tube and fittings industry strongly urges Congress to take action on legislation that will provide the necessary tools to ensure that U.S. companies and workers can challenge China’s unfair trade practices and the Belt and Road Initiative specifically designed to weaken our nation’s economic and national security,” said Roger B. Schagrin, executive director and general counsel of the Committee on Pipe and Tube Imports (CPTI). “Our 40,000 employees across the country urge the House leadership to include the Leveling the Playing Field Act 2.0 in any future China trade legislative vehicle that is considered in the final days of this Congress.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson recently said that he expects Congress to send the White House a package of China legislation by the end of this year.
About the SMA
SMA is the largest steel industry trade association in the United States and is the primary trade association representing North American EAF steel producers. EAF steelmakers account for almost 70 percent of domestic steelmaking capacity using an innovative, 21st century production process that is less energy-intensive and has lower carbon emissions than traditional steelmaking. For more information check out our website at www.steelnet.org or our LinkedIn page.
