Pipe and Tube Manufacturers Back ‘Quotas and Tariffs‘ in Letter to Trump

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): Leaders of 23 domestic pipe and tube manufacturers wrote to President Trump to urge him “to move forward quickly with effective relief under the Section 232 investigation on steel imports in order to ensure the safety of domestic supply of pipe and tube to the national defense and critical infrastructure of the United States.”

The Commerce Department is conducting a Section 232 investigation of the impact of steel imports on national security. The agency had been expected to complete the inquiry in June, but it is now unclear when it will submit its report.

Members of the Committee on Pipe & Tube Imports said in an Aug. 28 letter to Trump that foreign producers supply more than 60 percent of the nation’s pipe and tube products.

“The high and growing level of import penetration has come at the expense of U.S. producers who have seen their sales plummet and their profitability decimated, forcing them to idle capacity and reduce their workforce,” the letter stated. “If the U.S. industry producing pipe and tube shrinks further, it will put the U.S. economy and national defense at a strategic disadvantage due to an unhealthy, and perhaps unsustainable, dependence on foreign products. … We urge you [to] take immediate action under the provisions of U.S. law that allow you to intervene to ensure that domestic producers can meet the national security needs of our great country by imposing a combination of quotas and tariffs.”

CNBC described the committee as a 40-member organization that represents “companies that purchase steel from integrated manufacturers to make tubular products.” The companies that signed on to the letter included ArcelorMittal Tubular Products North America, Zekelman Industries, and Trinity Products.

Courtesy: AIIS