Cleveland-Cliffs, USW comment on tin mill products case report by ITC

The U.S. International Trade Commission, or ITC, this week issued public documents detailing the rationale behind its unanimous negative injury determination in the tin mill products trade case brought by co-petitioners Cleveland-Cliffs and the United Steelworkers, or USW. This determination by the ITC negated the implementation of anti-dumping and countervailing duties calculated by the Department of Commerce. Lourenco Goncalves, Cleveland-Cliffs’ chairman, president and CEO, stated, “It is now clear that the decision by United States Steel Corporation not to participate as a petitioner in this trade case — or provide a substantive response to the ITC’s request for further information on the idling of tin lines in Gary and East Chicago, Indiana and the closure of UPI in California — directly led to the ITC’s negative determination. Had U.S. Steel cooperated with the ITC, the Commission would not have been left without the information needed to discern the market forces behind U.S. Steel’s withdrawal from the tin mill products market in the United States.” Goncalves continued, “U.S. Steel’s January 2022 announcement that it would shut down its UPI tin mill in Pittsburg, California left the West Coast completely exposed to imports, particularly from Asian countries like Japan and China. This decision played a major role in the surge of imported tin mill product that hit the U.S. in mid-2022 and decimated the domestic industry, harming workers and communities. In spite of U.S. Steel’s intransigence, I am grateful for the partnership of the USW that allowed this case to go forward. The report issued this week made clear that, unfortunately, the ITC discounted the filings and testimony of the USW that clearly articulated how its members at Cleveland-Cliffs and U.S. Steel had been materially injured by unfair trade. USW members across the tin mill industry can compete with anyone on a level playing field,” said USW International President David McCall. “Unfortunately, the ITC’s decision continues to leave them and their families vulnerable to unfair trade, threatening their livelihoods and imperiling the communities in which they live and work. Dumped and illegally subsidized tin mill products have already cost far too many good, American jobs, and USW members understand as well as anyone that without relief, foreign producers will continue to undercut our market until we are wholly dependent on them. It’s clear that our nation urgently needs strategic reform of our broken trade system so that domestic workers and industries aren’t forced to fight on a case-by-case basis to ensure they have a future.”