Steel Caucus Advocates for Trade Enforcement Agencies to House Appropriations Committee

Washington, DC - Today, Congressional Steel Caucus Co-Chairmen Conor Lamb and Frank J. Mrvan, and Co-Vice Chairmen Rick Crawford and Mike Bost, along with 33 other Members of the Congressional Steel Caucus, released a letter sent to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies in support of funding for the Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration (ITA) and the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC). 

Co-Chairman Conor Lamb stated, “This funding will ensure we’re properly enforcing our trade laws and punishing foreign companies who cheat to get ahead. We know that when American steelworkers compete on a level playing field they can’t be beat – and protecting this critical industry is a clear, bipartisan priority. I look forward to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to protect this funding.”

Co-Chairman Frank J. Mrvan stated, “Northwest Indiana is home to a tremendous presence of organized labor and domestic steel capabilities, whose survival is dependent upon the full enforcement of our U.S. trade laws.  I thank my fellow leaders and Members of the Congressional Steel Caucus, for their engagement and advocacy to ensure that the dedicated public servants at the ITA and ITC can ensure that all American workers can compete on a level playing field.”

Co-Vice Chairman Mike Bost stated, “It is vitally important that Congress provides the ITA and ITC with the funding needed to combat unfair trade practices by foreign producers. These agencies are critical to ensuring that American steel companies and workers can compete on a level playing field with their foreign competitors.”

Co-Vice Chairman Rick Crawford stated, “On a level playing field, U.S. steelmakers can compete with anyone across the globe. Unfortunately, bad actors flood the market with lower quality products to undermine fairly set prices of U.S. products. The ITA and the ITC are critical to enforcement of our trade laws and it’s Congress’ responsibility to ensure they have adequate resources to carry out their duties. Inclusion of this request in House appropriation legislation will be another step toward continued economic growth in East Arkansas, and across the country.”

The full text of the letter is available below and pdf is available here: 

Dear Chairman Cartwright and Ranking Member Aderholt: 

As the Subcommittee begins to draft its Fiscal Year 2023 Departments of Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Appropriations bill, we are writing to encourage the Subcommittee to ensure adequate funding for the United States Department of Commerce (DOC)’s International Trade Administration (ITA) and the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) to prioritize and carry out the application of United States trade remedy laws. Your attention to this matter is greatly appreciated. 

American industry and workers can more than compete and succeed in a fair market that responds to supply and demand principles. Unfortunately, our manufacturers must increasingly operate in a global market dominated by state-owned and subsidized firms. These firms operate irrespective of market conditions, often permitting them to operate at an economic loss and sell products at less than fair market value. 

Anti-Dumping (AD) and Countervailing Duty (CVD) laws exist to protect United States producers and workers from economic injury resulting from unfairly traded imports. According to the ITA, in recent years, the agency has experienced a surge in the number of AD and CVD petitions filed by domestic industry. Even during 2020 and 2021, amid the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, such petitions increased nearly 50 percent compared to the prior two years, leading ITA to initiate 154 new AD and CVD investigations—more than any other two-year period this decade. The first quarter of 2022 has already seen an additional 17 cases initiated. 

As ITA undertakes these labor-intensive and time-sensitive investigations, which require thorough analysis and evaluation/verification of evidence submitted by foreign respondents, it must also vigilantly review and enforce 664 existing AD and CVD orders through annual administrative reviews—which can be as demanding as original investigations—and circumvention inquiries, as well as five-year “sunset” reviews. It should be noted that ITA and ITC have found merit to claims of economic injury resulting from unfairly traded import investigations. ITA has consistently seen a rise in the number of calculated AD/CVD rates in each of the last three fiscal years including 772 in FY 2021.

We strongly encourage the Committee to consider these factors when establishing funding levels for Enforcement and Compliance activities at ITA to ensure the agency has adequate resources and personnel to protect American firms and workers from economic injury from unfairly traded exports. 

The ITC is an independent, quasi-judicial commission responsible for investigating and making timely and objective determinations involving imports that cause injury to a domestic industry in violation of United States trade laws. Its status as an independent agency whose commissioners are equally split between the parties provides confidence to affected stakeholders that decisions and remedy recommendations made by the Commission are solely based on the facts and relevant law and are free of political interference. Among the ITC’s mission priorities are conducting AD/CVD investigations and reviews and trade involving United States intellectual property rights under Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930. 

The ITC continues to experience similar numbers to ITA for trade remedy investigation caseloads, as well as concomitant reviews of existing orders. According to the ITC, the agency has experienced a surge in the number of AD and CVD petitions filed by domestic industry. Only eight such petitions were filed in 2014. Since then, however, more than 100 new petitions have been filed, and there is no sign of abatement. Meanwhile, the ITC must now review the AD and CVD orders put in place over the last several years, with the ITC anticipating it will institute 40 and 35 reviews in FY2022 and FY2023, respectively. Additionally, cases investigated by ITC are increasingly complex and include petitions involving multiple countries. The increased funding request will also allow the ITC to address its growing portfolio of mandates in the trade enforcement area, including additional responsibilities under recent trade deals. Without the proper funding to handle the increased and more complex workload, as reflected in the ITC’s Congressional Budget Justification, it will not have the capacity to meet the tight statutory deadlines associated with trade enforcement. 

We strongly encourage the Committee to build on its previous efforts to protect domestic workers and businesses from unfair trade by providing adequate resources to the ITA and ITC to best ensure timely and objective responses to trade remedy complaints and investigations. 

Sincerely,

Rep. Conor Lamb - Co-Chairman

Rep. Frank J. Mrvan - Co-Chairman 

Rep. Mike Bost - Co-Vice Chairman

Rep. Rick Crawford - Co-Vice Chairman

Rep. Jim Banks

Rep. Larry Bucshon

Rep. G.K. Butterfield

Rep. Andre Carson

Rep. Sharice Davids

Rep. Danny K. Davis

Rep. Rodney Davis

Rep. Warren Davis

Rep. Peter A. DeFazio

Rep. Debbie Dingell

Rep. Brain Fitzpatrick

Rep. Vicente Gonzalez

Rep. Sam Graves

Rep. Michael Guest

Rep. Richard Hudson

Rep. Bill Johnson

Rep. John Katko

Rep. Mike Kelly

Rep. Robin L. Kelly

Rep. Daniel T. Kildee

Rep. Frank D. Lucas

Rep. Stephen F. Lynch

Rep. David B. McKinley

Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks

Rep. Marie Newman

Rep. Ralph Norman

Rep. Chellie Pingree

Rep. Jan Schakowsky

Rep. Terri A. Sewell

Rep. Elissa Slotkin

Rep. Jason Smith

Rep. Pete Stauber

Rep. John Yarmuth

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