Steelworkers' Canadian Director Testifies Before US International Trade Commission: Don't blame Canada for US steel industry crisis, says Lawrence McBrearty
MERRILLVILLE, IN, Oct. 8 /CNW/ - Lawrence McBrearty, National Director of
the United Steelworkers in Canada, has testified before the US International
Trade Commission, asking that the ITC consider separately the impact of the
United States' trading relationship in steel with Canada, and that the ITC
exercise the discretion permitted under the North America Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA) to exclude Canada from any trade remedies that will be recommended to
US President George W. Bush.
McBrearty's appearance before the ITC was as part of a broad-based
coalition of political, business and community leaders in the only hearing
held outside Washington as part of the investigation into the harm done to the
US steel industry as a result of steel imports. The ITC investigation was
triggered in June when the Bush Administration filed a petition under Section
201 of US trade law, asserting industry-wide injury to the US steel industry.
McBrearty stressed three main points in his submission, first that
steelworkers in Canada and the United States face a common problem and that
solutions to that common problem will not be found in trade conflict between
the two countries; second, that Canada is not a part of the problem faced by
the US steel industry; and third, that the substantial integration of the
steel and steel-using economies of Canada and the United States means that any
steel trade action taken by either country against the other would have a
significant disruptive impact on customer industries on both sides of the
border.
"Both Canada and the US have had to cope with surges in imports of steel
from offshore," McBrearty said. "Between 1996 and 2000, US imports from
countries other than Canada increased from 19.5 per cent of the apparent
domestic market to 25 per cent. In the same period in Canada, imports from
countries other than the US increased from 11.2 per cent of the market to 24.8
per cent.
"In both Canada and the US, the industry is struggling with artificially
depressed prices that are below the break-even point and, for many companies,
less than operating cost. Our third-largest steel company is operating under
court protection; others are mere months away from being in the same position.
"In both Canada and the US, it is clear that the crisis is not of our own
making. Canada and the United States are the only two major steel producing
countries in the world that do not have an excess steelmaking capacity
problem. We're in this together."
McBrearty said that no matter how you look at the problem, Canada has not
contributed to the US steel crisis.
"While overall imports of steel into the US were surging during the 1996-
2000 period, imports from Canada actually declined slightly," he said. "In the
same period, US exports to Canada increased substantially. The Canada-US steel
trade balance shifted from 2.5 million tons in Canada's favour in 1996 to just
over one million tons in 2000, and 2001 is trending towards a near-balanced
position. Canada's net impact on US steel (imports from Canada less exports to
Canada as a share of the apparent US market) dropped from 2 per cent in 1996
to 0.8 per cent in 2000 -- and is lower than that today.
McBrearty said that in steel, Canada and the US are each other's best
export customer, adding that, while there are fluctuations, these are not
because steel companies have excess product, but because companies gain and
lose contracts to supply individual customers.
"As a consequence of this integration, there are thousands of jobs
outside the steel industry in the United States that depend on America's steel
trading relationship with Canada, just as there are thousands of non-steel
jobs in Canada that depend on that relationship |
