Steel Producers Gain Congressional Support Urging Quotas For China Pipe Imports
Seven U.S. standard steel pipe producers urged President George Bush to restrict surging imports of competing products from China through a special mechanism that he has declined to use before. They were joined in the effort by the United Steelworkers (USW) and separate letters signed by 61 members of the U.S. House and 20 U.S. Senators.
Wheatland Tube Co., the largest U.S. standard pipe producer, already has been forced to lay off 250 workers at plants in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Arkansas, said Mark Magno, the company's vice president of marketing. “Without very significant ... relief that dramatically reduces Chinese imports and allows us to increase production, we will be forced to permanently shut down the Sharon (Pennsylvania) plant with the loss of 300 additional jobs,” Magno said.