Ehrlich on Washington column, March 8, 1999

NEWS FROM Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. Second Congressional District of Maryland 1 407 York Road, Suite 304 Lutherville, Maryland 21093 3 1 5 Cannon House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515 EHRLICH ON WASHINGTON Week of March 8, 1999 By Congressman Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. SAVING THE U.S. STEEL INDUSTRY In the time it takes to develop a roll of film or buy a pair of eyeglasses, another American steelworker has lost his or her job. That’s right, steelworkers all across the country are being laid off at a rate of one every hour. In just two years, more than 10,000 American steelworkers have been displaced. How, with our booming domestic economy at full employment, can folks be losing their jobs at such an alarming rate? The answer lies with a drastic surge of steel imports well below market rates, a practice known as "dumping", and President Clinton’s failure to enforce existing U.S. trade laws. Beginning in July of 1997, foreign steel products have been dumped at American ports in violation of U.S. trade law. The imports overload the American steel market and drastically reduce the need for domestically-produced steel. As a result, orders for domestic steel diminish and union jobs are lost. The primary offenders of this illegal action come from Japan, South Korea, Russia, and Brazil. The one thing these countries have in common, aside from dumping steel in the U.S., is that President Clinton has placed more value on restoring their economies than keeping American union workers at domestic steel mills. When evidence of the illegal steel dumping was brought to President Clinton’s attention by a