{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.donnelly.senate.gov/newsroom/press/bipartisan-group-asks-itc-to-maintain-level-playing-field-for-steel-industry", "Bipartisan Group Asks ITC to Maintain Level Playing Field for Steel Industry", "2013-10-30", "2013", "2013-10", "Democrat", "House", "IN", "Joe Donnelly", "D000607", "www.donnelly.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Bipartisan Group Asks ITC to Maintain Level Playing Field for Steel Industry\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tWednesday, October 30, 2013\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tWashington, D.C. \u2013 Senators Joe Donnelly (D-IN) and Jeff Sessions (R-AL) today led a bipartisan group of 19 senators who wrote a letter to Chairman Williamson of the U.S. International Trade Commission asking that the Commission maintain the existing antidumping and countervailing duty orders against unfairly traded imports of hot-rolled steel. These trade orders help maintain a level playing field for an already vulnerable domestic steel industry.\r\nThe senators wrote, \u201cGiven the current state of the domestic industry and the ability of producers in China, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan and Ukraine to send significant quantities of hot-rolled steel to the U.S. market, removing the existing trade orders would harm the domestic industry and its workers. As a result, we strongly urge you to maintain the existing orders against dumped and subsidized imports of hot-rolled steel.\u201d\r\nThe full text of the letter follows and is available for download here.\r\nOctober 30, 2013\r\nThe Honorable Irving A. Williamson   Chairman   U.S. International Trade Commission   500 E Street, S.W.   Washington, D.C. 20436\r\nRE: Hot-Rolled Carbon Steel Flat Products from China, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan, and Ukraine: Inv. Nos. 701-TA-405, 406, and 408 and 731-TA-899-901 and 906-908 (Second Review)\r\nDear Chairman Williamson:\r\nWe are writing to encourage you to maintain the existing antidumping and countervailing duty orders against unfairly traded imports of hot-rolled steel from China, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan, and Ukraine. These trade orders are necessary to prevent further injury to an already vulnerable domestic steel industry.\r\nWhile the economy is growing slowly, the U.S. hot-rolled steel industry is in substantially worse condition than it was when the Commission last considered these trade remedies, five years ago. The recent financial performance of domestic hot-rolled steel producers confirms that production and capacity utilization rates are down, and the industry\u2019s rates of return are wholly inadequate to justify future investment. Moreover, U.S. demand for hot-rolled steel remains weak and the overall health of the U.S. and global economy is unstable.\r\nAt the same time, hot-rolled steel producers in all six countries are heavily export-oriented and have become even more so given depressed market conditions in their home and traditional export markets. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, global steel overcapacity is substantial and growing. Yet, these countries continue to expand their capacity at alarming rates. With economic slowdowns in Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia, foreign producers in these six counties will not hesitate to ship their dumped and subsidized excess steel into the United States, as they have in the past.\r\nAs the Commission is aware, the Department of Commerce recently determined that revocation of the antidumping orders would likely lead these countries to dump hot-rolled steel into the United States at margins ranging from 4.41 percent to 90.83 percent, and that revocation of the countervailing duty orders would likely lead to continuation or recurrence of a countervailable subsidy at margins of more than 500 percent. In other words, these trade remedy orders are the only thing preventing significant quantities of unfairly traded hot-rolled steel from these countries from quickly overwhelming an already vulnerable industry and causing harm to U.S. manufacturers and their workers.\r\nGiven the current state of the domestic industry and the ability of producers in China, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan and Ukraine to send significant quantities of hot-rolled steel to the U.S. market, removing the existing trade orders would harm the domestic industry and its workers. As a result, we strongly urge you to maintain the existing orders against dumped and subsidized imports of hot-rolled steel.\r\nThank you in advance for your time and consideration of this critical issue.\r\nRespectfully submitted,\r\nSenator Joe Donnelly  Senator Jeff Sessions  Senator John Boozman  Senator Sherrod Brown  Senator Richard Burr  Senator Robert Casey, Jr.  Senator Dan Coats  Senator Richard Durbin  Senator Al Franken  Senator Lindsey Graham  Senator Kay Hagan  Senator Tom Harkin  Senator Amy Klobuchar  Senator Carl Levin  Senator Rob Portman  Senator Mark Pryor  Senator John D. Rockefeller IV  Senator Richard Shelby  Senator Debbie Stabenow  \u2003\r\n###\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t Press Contact \n\t\t\t\t\tDonnelly_Press@Donnelly.Senate.Gov", 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.donnelly.senate.gov/newsroom/press/bipartisan-group-asks-itc-to-maintain-level-playing-field-for-steel-industry"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.6282580327242613, "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"}