USW Message to Congress "Enforcing lousy trade laws doesn’t get you much to protect steel jobs" TPP

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.usw.org/news/media-center/releases/2015/usw-message-to-congress-enforcing-lousy-trade-laws-doesnt-get-you-much-to-protect-steel-jobs

MAR 27, 2015
USW Message to Congress "Enforcing lousy trade laws doesn’t get you much to protect steel jobs"
It’s time to rewrite the trade laws

Contact: Gary Hubbard, 202-256-8125, [e-mail]

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Mar. 27) – Thomas M. Conway, International Vice President of the United Steelworkers (USW), yesterday raised the profile of how 5,500 laid-off steelworkers at U.S. Steel Corp. in five states, now view a renewed crisis in the American steel industry as an urgent, immediate need to rewrite America’s trade laws to stop the tide of subsidized and dumped steel imports into the U.S. market.

The USW vice president joined many of the major steel company CEOs before some 15 Members of Congress who represent steel facilities in their districts to speak out on the state of the American steel industry. He said existing policies on trade are undermining manufacturing and employment in the steel industry. Conway said China, South Korea, Brazil, Turkey and many other countries are flooding our market with steel products.

Snip: Conway told the congressional steel caucus that USW members appreciate much of their support, but enough is not being done. He related the current U.S. negotiation for a new trade deal with 11 other nations, called the ‘Trans-Pacific Partnership’ (TPP), is not a good approach either.

“The first agreement they want to grease the skids for is the TPP and, as I’ve noted, it will only increase our problems. Not only does it fail to address the key issues of currency manipulation and global overcapacity, but it will increase the incentives to outsource production and diminish the incentives to produce here.

FULL story at link.