WASHINGTON – Congressman Troy Balderson (R-OH) is applauding U.S. Trade Representative Bob Lighthizer’s announcement that pursuant to the Joint Statement of May 17, 2019 to address the transshipment of grain-oriented electrical steel (GOES), Mexico will establish a strict monitoring regime for exports of electrical transformer laminations and cores made of non-North American GOES.

“I am thankful President Trump and USTR Lighthizer have taken meaningful action to protect steel jobs in Zanesville and Butler,” said Balderson. “This announcement marks a crucial step forward in the fight to protect American steel, American manufacturing, and more than one thousand well-paying jobs in Ohio and Pennsylvania. If AK Steel’s manufacturing of electrical steel is edged out by foreign competitors, not only will Ohioans lose their jobs, but the integrity of the American electrical grid will be in peril. I am committed to working together with my colleagues and the Administration to ensure the future quality and safety of America’s critical infrastructure—our electrical grid—from complete reliance on foreign manufacturers of steel.”

The announcement follows a year-long effort by Balderson urging the administration to address unfair trade practices that threaten AK Steel’s Zanesville, Ohio, and Butler, Pa., steel facilities. AK Steel, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cleveland-Cliffs, is the last remaining North American producer of GOES, which is a crucial element of the United States electrical grid.

This March, Congressmen Balderson and Mike Kelly (R-PA) called on President Trump to address the dramatic increase in GOES imported from Canada and Mexico—two countries that have no domestic capacity to make GOES—in the form of laminations and cores.

In April, Balderson joined Kelly and Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) in calling on President Trump to cover derivative electrical steel products (laminations and cores) under the administration’s Section 232 program.

Earlier this week, Lourenco Goncalves, Chairman, President, and CEO of Cleveland-Cliffs said, “These actions should be viewed as a condemnation of those seeking to circumvent tariffs and quotas imposed under our trade laws and of companies abusing the steel Section 232 product exclusion process.”

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