{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.cochran.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news-releases?ContentRecord_id=81d8cfa9-7b02-41b7-8d8b-a7efc4fbbca6", "MISS. SENATORS CONTINUE PUSH TO PROTECT U.S. STEEL PRODUCT FROM UNFAIR IMPORTS", "2014-09-17", "2014", "2014-09", "Republican", "House", "MS", "Thad Cochran", "C000567", "www.cochran.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senators Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) today persisted in their efforts to ensure that U.S. steel producers in Mississippi and other states are protected from imported steel reinforcing bar or \u201crebar.\u201d\r\nCochran and Wicker are encouraging Meredith Broadbent, chairman of the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), to protect the U.S. rebar industry by supporting antidumping duties on imports unfairly supported with foreign government subsidies.\u00a0 The ITC is in the final phase of antidumping and countervailing duty investigations on reinforcing rebar imported from Mexico and Turkey.\r\n\u201cThe imposition of antidumping duties is a matter of competitive fairness, particularly when imbalanced trade practices impact the livelihoods of workers in Mississippi and other steel producing states,\u201d Cochran said.\u00a0 \u201cWe are simply asking the ITC to support an American industry beset by government-subsidized foreign steel products.\u201d\r\n\u201cAmerican steel manufacturers should be safeguarded from imports that unfairly manipulate the market,\u201d Wicker said. \u201cI urge the ITC to continue to support global trade policies that level the playing field for Mississippi\u2019s steel industry.\u201d\r\nThe Senators are among 36 Senators who have signed a letter to Broadbent that highlights the hardships experienced by the U.S. steel industry during the recession and the threat posed to its recovery by cut-rate foreign-made rebar dumped on the market.\r\n\u201cSince 2010, these imports have flooded the U.S. market at the direct expense of U.S. producers, who have seen their share of the market drop dramatically.\u00a0 Capacity utilization rates are at historically low levels -- near 60 percent -- and production levels have yet to recover from the recession,\u201d the Senators wrote.\r\n\u201cOn behalf of the U.S. rebar industry and the workers and their families who depend on full and fair enforcement of our trade laws for their survival, we urge you to give careful consideration to their arguments regarding investigations involving Turkey and Mexico.\u00a0 It is essential that foreign subsidies and dumping be addressed in order to prevent further harm to the U.S. rebar industry and the unwarranted loss of American jobs,\u201d they wrote.\r\nThe ITC began its review of the Steel Concrete Reinforcing Bar from Mexico and Turkey Inv. Nos. 701 TA-502 and 731-TA-1227-1228 (Final Phase) case in September 2013 (http://1.usa.gov/1ycMMDv and http://1.usa.gov/XdcQxe).\u00a0 The primary petitioner is the Rebar Trade Action Coalition.\u00a0 Nucor Corp., which has operations in Starkville and Flowood, is a member of the coalition.\u00a0 The ITC petition indicates that the case affects nine producers with facilities in 23 states that employed 4,167 workers in 2012.\r\nThis past April, the Mississippi Senators signed correspondence to Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker to highlight unfair trade practices associated with Turkish and Mexican steel imports.\u00a0 Rebar imports from those two countries have doubled since 2010 and continue to surge.\r\nLast year, Cochran and Wicker were part of a similar case involving the extension of existing antidumping duties now imposed on rebar produced in China, Indonesia, Ukraine, Latvia, Belarus, Moldova and Poland.\u00a0 They were among a dozen Senators who argued that extending the duties would be critical to protecting American-made rebar imports that are illegally undercutting the U.S. market.\u00a0 As part of that effort, they pointed out that a November 2012 review by the U.S. Department of Commerce found that if the antidumping orders were not maintained, producers in these seven countries would resume dumping rebar into the United States at margins ranging from 16.99 percent to 232.86 percent.\r\nLetter sent to ITC Chairman Broadbent is available below.\r\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.cochran.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news-releases?ContentRecord_id=81d8cfa9-7b02-41b7-8d8b-a7efc4fbbca6"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.5320060085505247, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}