Port of New Orleans Warns Against AD/CV Duties on Oil Country Tubular Goods
The Port of New Orleans cautioned the Commerce Department against imposing antidumping and countervailing duties on oil country tubular goods from nine countries, highlighting the importance of imported steel to the U.S. economy in an Aug. 5 letter to the agency. The investigation on the steel pipes implicates both the Port’s “continued growth and success”, as well as jobs and the economy in general, said Gary LaGrange, president of the Port.
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“Steel is the single largest import commodity handled at the Port of New Orleans and its importance cannot be understated,” the letter said. “In 2012, iron and steel imports accounted for 25.5% of the Port’s total general cargo, and Turkey alone accounted for 11.3% of these imports.” Turkey is one of nine countries being investigated, along with India, South Korea, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, and Vietnam. The International Trade Commission is set to announce its preliminary injury determination Aug. 16.
Trade remedies on steel have hurt U.S. industry in the past, the port said. According to the letter, about 200,000 jobs in industries tied to steel were lost in 2002 following imposition of safeguard tariffs on China, “a larger number than that of those employed by the steel manufacturing firms protected by the tariffs.” And the safeguard impacted the Port of New Orleans too, the letter said. Before the tariffs, ships be unladen from ships and the port, and those ships would then be filled with grain for export. After the safeguard was imposed, “farms across the U.S. were hurt as the decrease in steel imports led to a decrease in grain exports,” the port said. And after only a few months, “about one-third of the port’s longshoremen had joined unemployment rolls.”
Email ITTNews@warren-news.com for a copy of the letter.