WASHINGTON – Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin today urged the International Trade Commission (ITC) to provide relief for U.S. steel manufacturers against foreign competitors who have flooded our market. “Without relief, the very existence of Bethlehem Steel and other U.S. steel manufacturers will be in jeopardy.”

Rep. Cardin, who represents many of the workers at Bethlehem Steel’s Sparrows Point, MD plant, said that “global overproduction, much of which has been diverted to the United States, has caused an unprecedented influx of low-priced steel imports in the U.S. market since 1998.

The Congressman pointed out that Bethlehem Steel and other U.S. steel manufacturers have spent millions of dollars to “do the right thing -- to modernize and become more efficient -- yet the vast global overproduction of steel may make it impossible for the U.S. steel industry to survive.”

The Congressman’s testimony is part of a Section 201 investigation by the ITC into the high level of foreign steel imports and its effect on the U.S. steel industry. President Bush called for the ITC investigation in June, which could lead to a reduction in the amount of foreign steel allowed into this country.

In his testimony, the Congressman stressed that “the situation has become desperate for U.S. steel companies trying to survive in the midst of import surges, severely depressed prices, disastrously low capacity utilization, declining domestic shipments and plummeting revenues.”

He told the commission that “the only way to solve the problem is to provide Section 201 relief that will allow the U.S. steel industry to get back on its feet and will force foreign producers to align their capacity with domestic and global demand.