Trade Body Declares Policy Priorities for U.S. Steel Industry

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) has released election 2020 public policy priorities for the American steel industry.

The document highlighted the important role played by steel and other manufacturing industries in the country’s economic growth. However, it noted that Covid-19 pandemic has caused sharp drop in economic activity and steel demand. It called upon the need for significant public investment in infrastructure in order to spur economic growth and promote job creation.

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AISI said that the administration must ensure that Section 232 remedy on steel imports remains in place, in order to curb repeated surges of steel imports in the U.S. market. In addition, the U.S. antidumping and countervailing duty laws must be further strengthened and aggressively enforced. Also, legislations must be introduced so as to support the trade remedy laws to reflect changing market realities.

The steel trade body recommended full and effective enforcement of the newly agreed U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) to incentivize the use of North American steel in manufacturing and strengthen manufacturing supply chains. The government should pursue WTO enforcement actions against foreign government policies and practices that violate WTO obligations.