Washington finally hears the story of unfair trade

Washington finally hears the story of unfair trade

There are finally people in Washington, D.C., who are getting the message that steel and pipe makers from Ohio and Pennsylvania have been trying to send them for years: Unfair Chinese trade policies are killing American jobs.

It wasn’t nearly that hard to convince us; we’ve been editorializing against unfair trade for years. The numbers spoke for themselves.

In 2002, China exported 9,000 tons of standard pipe to the United States. That jumped to 266,000 tons in 2004, and to more than 400,000 tons in 2006. That’s a 40-fold increase.

By 2007, the United States was imported more than a half-billion dollars worth of Chinese pipe. Is it any wonder that the Chinese steel industry is now larger than that of the United States, Japan and Europe combined?

There was only on explanation for such a meteoric increase. The pipe was so cheap that some buyers could barely pass it up. And the reason it was so cheap was because the Chinese government was subsidizing its manufacture. Chinese pipe was being sold here for less than U.S. pipe makers could buy the necessary raw materials.

Challenge filed

Last year, six U.S. standard pipe steel producers, including Wheatland Tube Company, which operates in Mercer and Trumbull counties, filed a complaint with the Department of Commerce and the International Trade Commission alleging that Chinese imports of welded standard pipe are being dumped and subsidized.

Last week, the Commerce Department responded with what may be a record duty of 700 percent against the Shuangjie Group, a major Chinese steel pipe producer, and combined duties of more than 106 percent on many other Chinese manufacturers and exporters.

The pipe involved in this case is known as standard pipe and is used for plumbing applications, heating and air conditioning, sprinkler systems, fencing and construction. But the ruling is important to the manufacturers of higher-cost specialized pipe because it sends an overdue message to China that the United States is willing to protect its domestic manufacturers and its home-grown workers from unfair trade practices.

When countries subsidize their industries to facilitate below-cost exports, they are shoring up their employment rolls at the expense of the importing countries. In effect, China has been exporting its unemployment to the United States and hundreds of workers here in the Mahoning and Shenango valleys have been paying the price.

This should be only the first of many times that the Commerce Department stands up to unfair trade practices that hurt American companies, American workers and the American fabric.