Washington, Dec 1, 2003 - Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich (D-OH) issued the following statement today on the lifting of steel tariffs:

“It appears the President has buckled under to the World Trade Organization, rather than stand up for the interests of American workers and manufacturers choosing to create wealth in the United States.

“Let us remember that the Section 201 steel tariffs are a justified and necessary response to a unanimous determination by the International Trade Commission that the American steel industry has suffered serious injury as a result of illegally dumped foreign steel. After only a year and a half of the tariff remedy, the positive results of the tariffs have been more than 16,000 jobs restored at formerly closed steel mills and over 1.1 million American jobs preserved overall. In addition, the midterm ITC report submitted to the President unequivocally reported that the temporary tariff relief has allowed the domestic steel industry to engage in a $3.6 billion restructuring and consolidation effort, has slowed job losses in steel consuming industries, and continues to provide an estimated benefit to the economy of $2 to $4 billion.

“Clearly the tariffs are needed and are effective. But the President has abandoned the sovereignty required to maintain them. A basic pre-requisite for self-governance requires that a nation be free to enact policies that address its needs and provide benefits for its people. But as long as the World Trade Organization determines United States trade policy, we are not a sovereign nation. As exhibited by the President’s decision on tariffs, our trade policy is now limited by unelected bureaucrats in Geneva, Switzerland.

“A nation this circumscribed is less than a nation. That is intolerable. The unfortunate demise of steel tariffs illustrates the national need to withdraw from the WTO and return to a system of bilateral trade agreements. America could then exercise its leverage as the leading world marketplace to promote rights and decency abroad and prosperity at home. The WTO is antithetical to those aims, and the steel tariff decision makes that point clear.

“I believe that a strong domestic steel industry anchors a strong domestic manufacturing sector. President Bush has driven another nail in the coffin of manufacturing in the United States of America, and he has accepted the erosion of US sovereignty, to the detriment of the American people.”