Domestic steelmakers sue Commerce over pacts
By Staff -- Purchasing, 10/7/1999
Five U.S. steel companies are suing Commerce over what they believe are illegal deals the department cut with Russian and Brazilian officials that allow hot-rolled sheet imports continued access to the U.S. market. The suit was filed in the U.S. Court of International Trade on behalf of Bethlehem Steel, Ispat Inland, LTV Steel, National Steel, and U.S. Steel Group.The plaintiffs were among 12 companies and the United Steelworkers union that filed anti-dumping and countervailing duty trade cases last September against Russia, Brazil, and Japan. While Japan's case concluded with punitive anti-dumping duties, the U.S. government ended the Russian and Brazilian cases with five-year suspension agreements setting price floors and quota limits.
The lawsuit charges that the Russian pact will not prevent domestic price suppression, as promised by the government, and that the Brazilian agreement doesn't meet the requirement of eliminating 85% of dumping.
Under the agreement, Russia will halt shipments of hot-rolled steel to the United States in 1999 and gradually increase them over the five-year life of the pact. It sets a minimum price ranging from $255 to $280/metric ton. The agreement with Brazil also limits imports of hot-rolled steel and sets a floor price of $327/tonne.
Before the agreements were reached, Commerce had set duties of up to 184.56% on Russian imports. It also had slapped a 60% tax on Brazilian hot-rolled steel imports, determining that three producers--Companhia Siderurgica Nacional, the largest steelmaker in Latin America, as well Cosipa and Usiminas--were dumping products on the U.S. market.
U.S. steel producers are upset about Commerce's decision to settle the dumping cases rather than go forward with the anti-dumping duties. But the court isn't expected to rule on whether Commerce acted legally until next summer.
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