WARREN — A letter asking for exemption to the 50% tariff on imported steel authored by union representatives of steelworkers at Thomas Steel, Warren Mayor Doug Franklin and Trumbull County commissioners was mailed last week to Sens. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, and Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, as well as Reps. David Joyce, R-Bainbridge, and Michael Rulli, R-Salem.

“Thomas Steel Strip relies on a unique type of steel known as Battery Quality Hot Rolled (BQHR) steel imported from its parent company Tata Steel Netherlands,” the letter notes. “No domestic supplier can consistently meet the standards required for this steel. Qualifying an alternative source would take years.

“Years are not what we have,” the letter continues.

Mark Murray, a staff representative with United Steelworkers District 1, on Tuesday noted that Commissioner Denny Malloy last week misspoke when he asked his fellow commissioners to support a letter opposing a 50% tariff on steel coming from China. The steel being used for the batteries being made at Thomas Steel comes from the European Union.

“Under the current U.S.-EU trade agreement, imported steel faces a 50% tariff threshold and BQHR steel has no exclusion,” the letter signed by the three county commissioners noted. “The agreement also offers no guidance on quotas despite multiple published reports of a quota-based system.”

“Without relief in the form of an exclusion or quota that reflects the unique need for BQHR steel, Thomas steel Strip will not remain competitive,” the letter continued. “That means jobs lost in Warren and families hurt across the region.”

In the commissioners’ letter, they noted the importance of obtaining the exclusion to the 50 percent tariff that means more to what happens in one steel plant and its workers.

“It is also about the trajectory of the Mahoning Valley at a moment when momentum is on our side,” they noted. “Our population is trending younger, incomes are rising and for the first time in a long time people are looking at Warren and the region as the preferred place to live, learn, work and play.”