SCHUMER, AFTER STANDING WITH UPSTATE NY STEEL WORKERS, APPLAUDS NEW MAJOR BIDEN ADMINISTRATION ACTION TO PREVENT CHINA FROM LAUNDERING STEEL & ALUMINUM THROUGH MEXICO–LEVELING THE PLAYING FIELD AND BOOSTING UPSTATE NY PRODUCERS & WORKERS
Steel & Aluminum Imports From China Funneled Through Mexico To Avoid U.S. Tariffs Have Long Harmed Upstate Companies Like Nucor Steel & Novellis in Central NY and Alcoa In The North Country
Schumer Recently Stood With Steel Workers To Push To Close This Loophole; Now, Biden Administration Has Just Secured New Agreement With Mexico To Go After China & Other Countries Avoiding Tariffs
Schumer: We Struck While The Iron Was Hot, Strengthened America’s Steel Industry, And Delivered A Major Boost For Upstate NY Steel Manufacturers and Workers!
After standing with Upstate NY steelworkers to push to stop the ‘steel surge’ from China being funneled through Mexico to avoid tariffs, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer today applauded the Biden administration heeding his calls and announcing new joint action with Mexico to prevent China and other countries’ steel and aluminum exports from evading tariffs and gaining access to the U.S. market.
Schumer explained when cheap, Chinese-made steel products flood the market through Mexico, it hurts Upstate New York steel producers, like Nucor in Auburn and Alcoa in the North Country, which cannot compete with this unfair dumping. Schumer said today’s action represent a major step forward to leveling the playing the field for Upstate NY industry and workers and these actions on the Senate floor today, which can be watched HERE.
“For years, America’s steel & aluminum industry has been harmed by artificially-cheapened products from China flooding the market and avoiding U.S. tariffs by laundering through Mexico. When I visited Nucor in Auburn earlier this year, I heard first-hand how the government-subsidized steel surge from China was devastating U.S steel manufacturers and workers,” said Senator Schumer. “This new and welcome action from the Biden administration is a major step forward to level the playing field for steel & aluminum producers in Upstate NY and stopping the Chinese Communist Party’s unfair trade practices. From Alcoa’s factory in the North Country to Nucor in Central NY, this news will keep America’s supply of steel & aluminum strong and made in places like Upstate NY.”
Schumer explained Mexican imports of Chinese steel and iron products have doubled from 2015 to 2023, and these products then make their way into the U.S without the required tariffs. This illegal steel laundering through Mexico hurts Upstate NY producers like Nucor in Auburn and Alcoa in the North Country who are forced to compete on an uneven playing field. Now the Biden Administration has gotten Mexico to crack down on this practice of avoiding U.S. tariffs. Mexico will increase tariffs on imports of steel, aluminum, and other products from countries with which it does not have a free trade agreement, and will also require importers to disclose the countries in which the steel and aluminum was melted and poured. The United States will only allow imports of steel and aluminum from Mexico to enter free from tariffs if it is melted and poured in Mexico, Canada, or the United States, and aluminum imports from Mexico must not contain primary aluminum smelted or cast in Belarus, China, Iran or Russia.
Schumer said these actions are a major step to strengthening American steel & aluminum producers and ensuring the resilience of this supply chain in North America.
Schumer has a long history of fighting for Upstate New York’s steel industry. Earlier this year, Schumer launched a push to urge the feds to close the “Mexican Steel Loophole” after standing with Nucor steel-workers in Central New York. In 2016, Schumer urged the previous administration’s Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) and the U.S. Department of Commerce to press China on its steel and aluminum overproduction, saying these subsidies threaten Upstate NY manufacturers like Nucor Vulcraft in Chemung, NY. The senator, along with Senator Gillibrand, also pushed the U.S. Department of Commerce to take action to protect Nucor against predatory trade practices, saying the Department of Commerce did not thoroughly address the dumping and subsidization of cheap rebar imports from Turkey in their 2014 investigation and asked the feds to consider the issues raised by the domestic industry and reconsider its determination on Turkish rebar to ensure a level playing field for the companies – and hundreds of local workers – that rely on a strong U.S. rebar manufacturing industry. In 2014, Schumer also announced that following his push, the International Trade Commission (ITC) found that steel producers from Mexico and Turkey had caused economic harm to U.S. steel reinforcing bar, or “rebar,” companies, like Nucor and Klein. Following the ITC decision, the Department of Commerce (DOC) instructed U.S. Customs and Border Protection to collect estimated duties for imports of rebar from Mexico and Turkey to level the playing field for companies like Nucor Steel, Klein Steel, and other New York steel producers.
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