{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/news-releases/grassley-urges-trade-review-consideration-special-factors-harm-us-steel-producers", "Grassley Urges Trade Review Consideration of Special Factors for Harm to U.S. Steel Producers, Including Montpelier Plant", "2016-12-06", "2016", "2016-12", "Republican", "House", "IA", "Charles Grassley", "G000386", "www.grassley.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON \u2013 Sen. Chuck Grassley is part of a request to the United States International Trade Commission that it consider specially outlined factors in a trade case involving steel producers, including SSAB Iowa Inc. with a facility in Montpelier in Muscatine County.\u201cWe write to express our concern about unfairly dumped and subsidized carbon and alloy steel cut-to-length plate imports that are harming U.S. producers,\u201d Grassley and fellow senators wrote to Chairman Irving A. Williamson. \u00a0\u201cAs you conduct investigations into the impact of these imports on American manufacturers, we urge you to fully implement the Leveling the Playing Field Act (Title V of P.L. 114-27) and consider a comprehensive list of factors in the Commission\u2019s injury determinations.\u201dThe senators wrote that imports of steel plate have skyrocketed in recent years. \u00a0Between 2013 and 2015, they surged by 100 percent. \u00a0In 2015 alone, the domestic industry estimates that 1.2 million tons of unfairly traded imports, worth $850 million, entered the U.S. market. \u00a0\u201cThese imports have taken their toll, and U.S. producers were forced to file antidumping and countervailing duty cases in April of this year,\u201d the senators wrote.The senators continued, \u201cAs of last year, U.S. producers were utilizing only 66 percent of their capacity, with U.S. plate production falling by nearly 20 percent in 2015. \u00a0U.S. plate producers\u2019 sales dropped by more than one million tons. \u00a0At the same time, the U.S. plate industry\u2019s operating income fell by over 90 percent. \u00a0As a result, more than 200 workers were laid off in 2015. \u00a0Even where workers have been able to keep their jobs, hourly wages have been reduced significantly.\u201dGrassley said the unfair imports are hard on companies such as SSAB Iowa Inc. with a steel coil facility in Montpelier. \u00a0\u201cThe United States needs to use every tool at its disposal to enforce trade rules,\u201d Grassley said. \u00a0\u201cCongress passed the Level the Playing Field Act to be sure the specific effects of unfair imports are considered when determining injury to a domestic industry. \u00a0Steel products are the ideal candidate for this detailed treatment.\u201dIn 2014, Grassley urged full consideration to the domestic steel industry\u2019s concerns about unfairly priced imports in a case that the manufacturer said caused reduced operating hours at a facility in Camanche in Clinton County. \u00a0The latest letter is available here\u00a0-30-", 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.grassley.senate.gov/news/news-releases/grassley-urges-trade-review-consideration-special-factors-harm-us-steel-producers"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8492539636790752, "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"}