U.S. Steel Hurt by Chinese Pipe Imports, ITC Says

[Coventina]

Source: Bloomberg

May 22 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. makers of pipes used for oil wells are being harmed by a surge of Chinese imports, a U.S. agency ruled in a decision that may lead to tariffs of as much as 99 percent on $2.6 billion in goods.

The U.S. International Trade Commission ruled 6-0 in favor of domestic companies such as U.S. Steel Corp., the U.S. operations of Evraz Group SA and Wheatland Tube Co., controlled by the closely held Carlyle Group. The United Steelworkers union also joined in filing the case.

Five of the commissioners said they voted for the petition because there is a threat of harm to U.S. producers.

The case may help U.S. Steel and other domestic producers weather a drop in demand for the pipe following the collapse in oil prices over the past year. It also may be a precursor for a number of trade complaints against China as the contracting economy prompts American companies to seek protection.



Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aO9IdF8bqye4&refer=us

[imdjh]

1. If Chinese pipes aren't any better than Chinese drywall, we might reconsider imports

[Locrian]

2. quality

I do home repairs and I CANNOT BELIEVE the drop in quality over the years. Fittings stripped, bad threads, porosity, leaks. Its absolute crap material and rock bottom cost crunching to make it as cheap as possible. Problem is it's hard to even filter out the crap because its EVERYWHERE. You cant GET good stuff - even if you pay a lot more it's still crap.

[8 track mind]

3. Chinese pipe IS horrible

It is total crap metal.

[imdjh]

6. Mystery metal

I have a Chinese motorcycle, and I couldn't tell you what the engine covers are made from. It reminds me of the metal you find in some household goods from the early part of the 20th century. God only knows what it is.

[izquierdista]

10. It's extruded

Workers get extra aluminum foil with their lunch and afterwards squat down to business.

[8 track mind]

14. in my experience

its been been poorly cast aluminum. How is the bike holding up by the way?

[hedgehog]

12. WIthout going into great detail, there was a huge explosion at a new

aluminum plant in China a year or so back. A pipe burst and dumped water into molten aluminum. Mixing water and molten aluminum causes an incredible series of different types of explosion from simple steam spattering metal to release of hydrogen to explosion of hydrogen.

The explosion took out most of the plant and killed all the managers. The pipe that burst carried clear US certifications stamped alog its length.



It came from the Chinese steel mill down the road.

[Beavker]

4. Don't by CAT products then.

The Caterpillar CEO was bitching because he didn't want to be FORCED to buy US made steel for his products when given US Taxpayer stimulus funds. He doesn't want to piss off the Chinese steel guys and remain competitive. What he's saying is he doesn't want to pay for good product at a slightly higher price to help his country out. He'd prefer to buy shit from a foreign company to save money so HE can get rich. He'd just pass the cost on to his buyers anyway, so I'm not sure it would matter.

[happyslug]

8. Caterpillar has been anti-USA since the UAW strike against them failed in the early 1990s

Caterpillar broke the Union and its 17 months strike in the 1995 showing both that Caterpillar cared less about it employees, and shows the same care to its customers it does to its employees

For more on the strike see:
http://books.google.com/books?id=mu3m5epp-PUC&pg=PA195&lpg=PA195&dq=Caterpillar+strike&source=bl&ots=voVYIwd7Wv&sig=yYpHX0INnBXTNwDHXQk5BXvBQCU&hl=en&ei=u64XSseJG8jgtgfpmIDyDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6
http://www.the-spark.net/csart115.html
http://www.kentlaw.edu/ilhs/cat.htm
http://books.google.com/books?id=TNwfE1e8TUwC&pg=PA31&lpg=PA31&dq=Caterpillar+strike&source=bl&ots=zlPP-jYJzu&sig=M6073stAJyaLkDohHJLPJw5Xo44&hl=en&ei=ZKwXSq_WH5CMtgeJ95HgDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6
http://books.google.com/books?id=MJJOl7SMWIoC&pg=PA245&lpg=PA245&dq=Caterpillar+strike&source=bl&ots=7S8fRLkiHo&sig=QulWFPxT5mDjjod2UjfAXMbHW2Q&hl=en&ei=ZKwXSq_WH5CMtgeJ95HgDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8#PPA245,M1
http://pubs.socialistreviewindex.org.uk/sr218/usletter.htm

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/41/politics/workers-unions-good-bad-476357/index4.html

[Doremus]

5. So to get our govt to support US manufacturing, all we have to do is get Carlisle to invest, huh?

Damn shame they wouldn't do it just because it's the right thing to do for WE THE PEOPLE.

[xchrom]

7. recommend -- tariffs are good. nt

[Deja Q]

11. Seconded, thirded, fourtheded...

:thumbsup:

[Greyhound]

9. There must be some mistake. The Chinese are our friends and would never do anything

underhanded or unscrupulous. Just like our All-American corporations, they only have the best interests of their customers at heart.
:eyes:

[UndertheOcean]

13. why can't the Chinese produce good quality products , do they lack brainpower ?

~Sarcasm~

[StarryNite]

15. They don't have to produce good quality products

when they have stupid Americans who keep buying their cheaply made shit.

[happyslug]

16. No, this is the same complaint about Japanese Junk in the 1950s

The Japanese in the 1950s were more worried about getting into the US Market then anything else and willing to do so by undercutting everyone else's prices (and the quality controls that produced the higher costs AND better products). It was more an effort to get Americans to buy Japanese products then anything else.

Only in the 1960s and 1970s that the Japanese started to ship over their better made products in mass (The Japanese has ALWAYS shipped their better made products to the US, but compared to low quality items these were few in numbers in the 1950s). Combined with the gas crisis of the 1970s (Which the Japanese fully exploited in regards to Sub-Compact cars) this greater acceptance of Japanese better made goods into the US economy even more acceptable (The habit of the US to leave their service men during the Vietnam War to buy massive amount of Japanese made goods without having to pay to ship them back to the US also helped the Japanese).

Thus by the mid 1970s the days of looking at Japanese Products as Junk was long gone, the Japanese even stopped shipping their junk to the US (Leaving that market to Taiwan and the other Asia Tigers). China appears to be following the same route, get Americans use to buying Chinese goods as substantial savings, and then bring in the better made goods once their competitors are out of Business.