Cleveland-Cliffs to idle Weirton facility following unfavorable ITC ruling

Cleveland-Cliffs announced that it will be indefinitely idling its tinplate production plant located in Weirton, West Virginia in April 2024. The need to idle the Weirton plant is a direct result of the unanimous decision issued by all four members of the International Trade Commission negating the implementation of anti-dumping and countervailing duties on tin mill products calculated by the Department of Commerce. A WARN notice is being issued today to approximately 900 impacted employees. These employees will be provided relocation opportunities to work at other Cliffs’ facilities and/or severance packages. In January 2023, Cleveland-Cliffs and co-petitioners the United Steelworkers filed antidumping and countervailing duty petitions related to unfairly traded tin and chromium coated sheet steel products. After finding evidence of dumping and subsidization, on January 5, 2024, the Department of Commerce announced duties on four countries, including Canada, China, Germany and South Korea. However, on February 6, 2024, the ITC unanimously rejected these tariffs. Lourenco Goncalves, Cleveland-Cliffs’ Chairman, President and CEO, stated, “We worked very closely with our partners at the USW on this solution to save Weirton, and together fought tirelessly for its survival. In what was our final effort to maintain tinplate production here in America, we proved that we are forced to operate on an uneven playing field, and that the deck was stacked in favor of the importers. Despite the Department of Commerce finding evidence of dumping and subsidization from respondent countries, the ITC shockingly ruled against imposition of tariffs, keeping the uneven playing field in place and making it impossible for us to viably produce tinplate. We have been upfront and open with union leadership throughout this process and our partnership with the USW remains unbreakable.”