By Lisa Beilfuss
Six major U.S. steel producers Wednesday filed petitions with
the U.S. government and an international trade organization,
alleging that unfairly traded imports of steel from China and four
other countries are causing material injury to the domestic
industry.
U.S. Steel Corp., Nucor Corp., Steel Dynamics Inc.,
ArcelorMittal USA, AK Steel Corp. and California Steel Industries
filed concurrent antidumping and countervailing duty petitions with
the U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. International Trade
Commission.
Antidumping duties are intended to offset the amount by which a
product is sold at less than fair value, while counterveiling
duties are intended to offset subsidies that are provided by
foreign governments.
Steel stocks mostly rose following news of the petitions, with
AK Steel up 2.1%, ArcelorMittal adding 1.7%, Nucor 1% higher and
Steel Dynamics up 0.5%. United States Steel declined 0.7%.
The petitions are in response to large and increasing volumes of
low-priced imports of corrosion-resistant steel from the subject
countries over the past three years that have injured U.S.
producers, according the six U.S. steel companies.
"Imports of corrosion-resistant steel from the five countries
targeted by this case increased by 85% between 2012 and 2014," the
companies said.
In addition to China, the other four countries cited by the U.S.
steel makers are India, Italy, South Korea and Taiwan.
U.S. steel industry leaders have talked openly of their desire
for antidumping tariffs to further deter imports, but they hadn't
filed a trade case before Wednesday. To win, they need to prove
that foreign steelmakers are selling their goods in the U.S. below
cost, and that this is hurting American steelmakers.
China's massive steel-making industry is flooding the world with
exports, prompting steel producers around the world to seek
government protection from falling prices. U.S. producers have
started to seek political support for trade action and layoffs
across the industry have bolstered support for tariffs.
Growing Chinese exports to the U.S. have further depressed
prices already hit by an oil-drilling slowdown and the resulting
demand for steel pipes and tube.
Meanwhile, European steel-industry officials have met with the
European trade commissioner seeking more tariff protection. Both
the U.S. and the EU already have tariffs in place on a handful of
Chinese steel products, but steel companies call them
insufficient.
Write to Lisa Beilfuss at lisa.beilfuss@wsj.com
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