James Oberstar: “Steel is the basic building block of an industrial society. In 1947, author John Gunther wrote that what makes America…”

“Steel is the basic building block of an industrial society. In 1947, author John Gunther wrote that what makes America the greatest industrialized Nation in the world is its ability to roll more steel than the Soviet Union, Germany, France, Belgium and Great Britain combined. That statement is no longer true. We are bombarded by unfairly traded steel, subsidized in foreign countries, to preserve a basic building block of their economy and to dump their excess capacity in the world's largest open free market, the United States. While we have played in the international trade arena by the Marquis of Queensbury rules, other countries are playing with black belt karate and kicking our brains out. Brazil, 27 different tax subsidies for the production and export of steel. Russia, Ukraine, producing steel at a loss in order to keep people working, and dumping their steel in this market and causing unemployment here. The best way to avoid those legacy costs is for the administration to conclude the 201 proceeding now underway; impose countervailing duties or tariffs or quotas, and stop the influx of subsidized steel; let the U.S. steel industry continue to work, to hire people, to keep them on the job, to keep those payrolls going.”