WASHINGTON – Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin praised today’s International Trade Commission (ITC) ruling that found that the U.S. steel industry has been seriously "injured" in recent years by the flood of foreign steel imports. The ITC ruling specifically mentioned many of the products made at Bethlehem Steel Corp’s Sparrows Point facility, including cold-rolled steel, corrosion-resistant steel and steel plate.

Following today’s ruling, the next step will be for the ITC to determine an appropriate remedy and forward that recommendation to the President. The ITC’s recommendation does not bind the President to a particular course of action. The Congressman said that the ITC is likely to recommend three possible courses of action: raising the price of foreign imports, which would enable the U.S. steel industry to compete at full market value; negotiating an agreement to reduce the worldwide overcapacity of steel; or imposing import quotas.

Bethlehem Steel Corp. last week filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, bringing a total of 24 U.S. steel companies that have filed for bankruptcy since the beginning of the steel crisis. The U.S. steel crisis has its roots in the 1998 and 1999 Asian financial crisis and the collapse of the Russian economy. Since then, illegally dumped steel has flooded the U.S. market, leading to approximately to 30,000 layoffs of U.S. steel workers.

"This favorable ruling by the ITC validates the U.S. steel industry’s claim that a flood of foreign imports has seriously injured our nation’s ability to compete. This ruling means that foreign producers now will need to align their capacity with domestic and global demand. The ultimate objective must be to have the domestic price of steel reflect its true competitive cost of production." He also pointed to a 2000 Department of Commerce study that identified 16 countries as engaging in "market distorting practices" which resulted in "serious structural problems" in the global steel industry.

The Congressman pointed to Bethlehem Steel’s Sparrows Point facility as a good example of U.S. steel producers eliminating excess capacity. "U.S. steel manufacturers are now among the most productive in the world with only 3.6 man-hours per ton of steel produced. Such productivity is unheard of in most other countries."

Rep. Cardin, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Steel Caucus, has introduced the Steel Revitalization Act, to deal with the glut of illegally dumped imports by setting import levels at the average level of penetration that occurred three years prior to the onset of the steel import crisis in 1998. He also has introduced the Trade Law Reform Act to strengthen anti-dumping and countervailing duty laws.