"Domestic steel pipe producers are being crippled by an onslaught of foreign competitors illegally dumping imports in the United States," Senator Sherrod Brown said, days after the Commerce Department launched a probe against South Korea, India, Vietnam, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, and Ukraine of unfair and illegal trade practises.
Brown and Senator Rob Portman yesterday called on the US International Trade Commission (ITC) to protect domestic producers of Oil Country Tubular Goods (OCTG) from foreign competitors that use unfair and illegal trade practises.
Noting that Ohio-based companies that produce Oil Country Tubular Goods (OCTG) support many good-paying jobs in the state, Portman said if the ITC does not stand up for these American manufactured goods and punish foreign companies who are flooding US our markets with unfairly imported cheap products, businesses and thousands of American workers are at risk.
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OCTG are used for domestic oil exploration, particularly in the shale industry, and are produced in Ohio by companies including US Steel in Lorain, Wheatland Tube Company in Warren, Vallourec Star in Youngstown, and TMK IPSCO in Brookfield.
Each is among the plaintiffs accusing South Korea, India, Vietnam, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, and Ukraine of unfair and illegal trade practises.
The two Senators said OCTG imports from these countries have increased from 840,000 net tons in 2010 to more than 1,770,000 net tons in 2012, with the number continuing to rise.
This has resulted in petitions that allege dumping margins of at least 30 percent, and in most cases, significantly more, the lawmakers said.