Sherrod Brown: “despite the overwhelming passage of a sense of Congress resolution urging the President to keep U.S. anti-dumping laws…”

“despite the overwhelming passage of a sense of Congress resolution urging the President to keep U.S. anti-dumping laws off of Qatar's negotiating table, the U.S. Trade Representative, Bob Zoellick, did just the opposite after a 410 to 4 vote. U.S. officials have signaled that they are willing to negotiate on trade dumping laws that provide safeguards against countries selling products in the U.S. marketplace at below cost. The American steel industry, like so many others, relies on anti-dumping laws as their last line of defense against unfairly traded imports. Unfortunately, since the WTO Uruguay Round, the steel industry's ability to defend itself against dumping has been severely weakened. Now, in Qatar, a couple of weeks ago, the U.S. Trade Representative has remained open to further weakening the rules on trade dumping, further jeopardizing American steel, further threatening American jobs. Many of us were concerned about Qatar long before the negotiations began. It is a country that does not allow free elections. It is a country that does not allow freedom of expression. It is a country where women are treated not much differently from the way women are treated by the Taliban in Afghanistan. It is a country where public worship by non-Muslims is banned.”