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1 November, 2000Steelworkers' union welcomes moves to hold back the recurrence of a steel crisis.
USA: The United Steelworkers of America reports that the White House has written to the USWA president, George Becker, citing unprecedented steps being initiated by the Clinton Administration to curb steel imports.
According to the letter, the U.S. president has:
- directed the secretary of commerce, for the first time ever, to examine the unfair trade impact on the U.S. steel industry being created by the absence of environmental regulations on steel producers in developing countries and to consider the implications of Wall Street's unwillingness to finance modernisation being sought by several major U.S. steel producers;
- directed the Treasury Department to seek a moratorium on any lending by the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development that would increase current levels of over-capacity in steel production globally;
- ordered the under secretary of commerce to meet with the Ukrainian government, as well as directing the secretary of commerce to immediately contact senior-level officials in Taiwan, India and China -- countries they say are responsible for recent surges in imports of steel products.
This period of comprehensive import restraints, says Becker, is needed "to allow the industry the breathing room it needs to revitalise itself." He welcomed the Administration's actions as "critical first steps in forging comprehensive solutions for saving the U.S. steel industry, steel communities and thousands of Steelworker jobs."
According to the letter, the U.S. president has:
- directed the secretary of commerce, for the first time ever, to examine the unfair trade impact on the U.S. steel industry being created by the absence of environmental regulations on steel producers in developing countries and to consider the implications of Wall Street's unwillingness to finance modernisation being sought by several major U.S. steel producers;
- directed the Treasury Department to seek a moratorium on any lending by the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development that would increase current levels of over-capacity in steel production globally;
- ordered the under secretary of commerce to meet with the Ukrainian government, as well as directing the secretary of commerce to immediately contact senior-level officials in Taiwan, India and China -- countries they say are responsible for recent surges in imports of steel products.
This period of comprehensive import restraints, says Becker, is needed "to allow the industry the breathing room it needs to revitalise itself." He welcomed the Administration's actions as "critical first steps in forging comprehensive solutions for saving the U.S. steel industry, steel communities and thousands of Steelworker jobs."