Report Examines Current State of U.S. Steel Sector
A briefing paper issued today by the Cato Institute's Center for Trade Policy Studies examines the current state of the U.S. steel industry following the December 2003 lifting of the section 201 quotas on imported steel products. The briefing paper concludes that many U.S. steel producers are earning record profits due to very high steel prices. However, the report also notes that such high steel prices have led to many other problems, and many domestic steel-consuming industries are facing large losses due to high raw material costs.
The report states that policymakers should move to mitigate the adverse consequences of restrictions on trade and endeavor to restore greater competition to the U.S. steel market before skyrocketing steel prices damage the U.S. economy. Specifically, the report advocates that the President, through the Secretary of Commerce, should exercise his authority to undertake "changed circumstances" reviews of all outstanding antidumping and countervailing duty orders on steel products and should terminate those orders that no longer make sense. The report also advocates the lifting, even on a temporary basis, of some of the 188 antidumping and countervailing duty orders now in effect in order to alleviate some of the burden on U.S. companies that use steel to manufacture their products.
The report can be viewed at the following Web site: www.freetrade.org/pubs/briefs/tbp-020es.html
|posted by Douglas N. Jacobson| Permalink 
