Three Senators Ask Commerce to Lower Korean OCTG Quota
Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Pennsylvania's two senators asked the government to lower the Section 232 quota for South Korean oil country tubular goods, as was done during the coronavirus pandemic.
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"The domestic OCTG industry has been threatened by unfair trade practices including steel dumping by South Korea for over a decade," the three wrote to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai. They noted that there was a 40% quota reduction in 2020 "in response to the significant decrease in demand," adding that U.S. firms' OCTG purchases are expected to be 22% lower in 2024 than in 2023.
They said that South Korean imports, combined with low demand, resulted in 220 fewer jobs at plants in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma and Texas. "We urge the Administration to take action to ensure that the industry does not continue to suffer additional job losses because of this outdated quota," they wrote.