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Reps. Kelly and Balderson Urge President Trump to Protect AK Steel, the Last Remaining U.S. Electrical Steel Producer

March 6, 2020

Washington, D.C. - Today, U.S. Representatives Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) and Troy Balderson (R-Ohio) wrote to President Trump urging him to expand 232 tariffs to protect the American electrical steel industry from unfair trade practices. 

Read the letter here

Key Excerpts

"This week, Lourenco Goncalves, chairman and chief executive officer of Cleveland-Cliffs testified before the Congressional Steel Caucus in Washington, D.C. that unless his company receives Section 232 tariff relief, he will be forced to close the two AK Steel plants in our districts."

"The United States cannot afford to lose the one remaining producer for grain-oriented electrical steel (GOES), for economic or national security reasons."

"We implore the U.S. Trade Representative and the Department of Commerce to address this matter immediately before our communities lose thousands of jobs and our country sees the doors of the last maker of electrical steel shuttered."

Background

U.S. imports of grain-oriented electrical steel (GOES) from China are assessed Section 232 tariffs under the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. A loophole is undermining the success of that policy. A dramatic increase in imported GOES into Canada and Mexico from China and elsewhere are circumventing those tariffs. Laminations, cores, and core assemblies that are slightly altered are entering the U.S. at high rates, reducing AK Steel’s ability to compete.

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