US Senators Mr Rob Portman (R-OH), Mr Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Bob Casey (D-PA) have sent a letter to Commerce Secretary Ms Gina Raimondo and United States Trade Representative Ms Katherine Tai to express their concerns about the threat to domestic production of grain-oriented electrical steel GOES. The senators wrote “Department of Commerce offered seven recommendations to remediate the national security threat posed by these imports. Of note is the first option, which suggested that the United States negotiate with Canada and Mexico to either reduce their exports of down-stream GOES products to the United States, or utilize more US GOES in the production of those products. We believe this option is a constructive starting point to address the ongoing national security threat, and ask that you engage with your counterparts in Canada and Mexico as a first step."In 2018, Senators Portman, Brown, and Casey asked President Trump to make electrical steel a priority in any Section 232 trade remedy in an attempt to get relief for AK Steel, now Cleveland Cliffs, and the last electrical steel manufacturer in the United States. Without relief, the company warned it might have to shut down the last production line in the entire country. In 2020, at the urging of the senators, the Department of Commerce initiated a Section 232 investigation into imports of GOES, in which the Department found that GOES products were being imported into the United States in such quantities and under such circumstances as to threaten to impair the national security. Since the release of these findings Commerce has not acted to address the national security threat.Right now, foreign countries, including Russia and China, are shipping GOES to Canada and Mexico where it is transformed into downstream electrical steel products which can enter the United States in circumvention of the Section 232 tariffs. In their most recent letter, the senators requested that Commerce start by working with partners Canada and Mexico to either reduce their exports of down-stream GOES products to the United States, or utilize more U.S. GOES in the manufacturing of products containing electrical steel.Cleveland-Cliffs, the largest producer of flat-rolled steel in North America, is North America's only producer of GOES. Cleveland-Cliffs employs thousands of workers in good-paying union jobs between its plants in Ohio and Pennsylvania.
US Senators Mr Rob Portman (R-OH), Mr Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Bob Casey (D-PA) have sent a letter to Commerce Secretary Ms Gina Raimondo and United States Trade Representative Ms Katherine Tai to express their concerns about the threat to domestic production of grain-oriented electrical steel GOES. The senators wrote “Department of Commerce offered seven recommendations to remediate the national security threat posed by these imports. Of note is the first option, which suggested that the United States negotiate with Canada and Mexico to either reduce their exports of down-stream GOES products to the United States, or utilize more US GOES in the production of those products. We believe this option is a constructive starting point to address the ongoing national security threat, and ask that you engage with your counterparts in Canada and Mexico as a first step."In 2018, Senators Portman, Brown, and Casey asked President Trump to make electrical steel a priority in any Section 232 trade remedy in an attempt to get relief for AK Steel, now Cleveland Cliffs, and the last electrical steel manufacturer in the United States. Without relief, the company warned it might have to shut down the last production line in the entire country. In 2020, at the urging of the senators, the Department of Commerce initiated a Section 232 investigation into imports of GOES, in which the Department found that GOES products were being imported into the United States in such quantities and under such circumstances as to threaten to impair the national security. Since the release of these findings Commerce has not acted to address the national security threat.Right now, foreign countries, including Russia and China, are shipping GOES to Canada and Mexico where it is transformed into downstream electrical steel products which can enter the United States in circumvention of the Section 232 tariffs. In their most recent letter, the senators requested that Commerce start by working with partners Canada and Mexico to either reduce their exports of down-stream GOES products to the United States, or utilize more U.S. GOES in the manufacturing of products containing electrical steel.Cleveland-Cliffs, the largest producer of flat-rolled steel in North America, is North America's only producer of GOES. Cleveland-Cliffs employs thousands of workers in good-paying union jobs between its plants in Ohio and Pennsylvania.
