First the Good News! President Bush has signed a Memorandum of No Action, in the matter of the Section 312 investigation; therefore imports from Canada and Mexico will NOT be included in the remainder of the Tariff Rate Quota (TRQ) program. The Section 312 was undertaken at the request of the rod producers to determine whether imports of wire rod from Canada and Mexico were undermining the TRQ. The AWPA participated in the hearing before the International Trade Commission (ITC), with Joe Downes of Leggett & Platt providing industry testimony. While the ITC vote was not favorable, with 4 of 6 commissioners voting in support of the petitioners, the President declined adding our NAFTA partners to the TRQ program.
And then the Bad News. On the day before Thanksgiving, President Bush issued a proclamation adding subquotas to the TRQ program covering imports of wire rod. In his decision, the President established country- and region-specific quotas for wire rod imports. He made the change effective immediately - in the fourth quarter of the current program year. He also changed the quarter's start date to November 24, during the Thanksgiving weekend. The full proclamation can be found at www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/11/20011121-6.html.
Among the most important points included in the decision:
Effective November 24, 2001, the remaining quota available for the current quota year (March 1, 2001 through February 28, 2002) will be allocated as follows:
- European Union - 28.161%
- CIS states (Ukraine, Moldova, Russia, Belarus, etc.) - 12.616%
- Trinidad and Tobago - 16.554%
- All other countries - 42.669%
For the program year beginning March 1, 2002, quota levels are identical for each of the four quota quarters (March 1 through May 31, 2002; June 1 through August 31, 2002; September 1, 2002 through November 30, 2002; and December 1, 2002 through March 1, 2003). The quarterly quota levels for each of the four regions/countries are as follows:
- European Union - 104,987.486 metric tons
- Trinidad and Tobago - 61,716.789
- CIS states - 47,034.377 metric tons
- All other countries - 159,076.170
Unfortunately any unused quota amounts in any one quarter are lost.
For the quota year beginning March 1, 2002, the total quota amount is identical to the in-quota amount originally set under President Clinton's proclamation.
The 5% tariff remains in place for over-quota imports.
AWPA was told by a USTR official that the European Union (EU) would drop their World Trade Organization (WTO) challenge against the original wire rod Section 201 decision. The EU received a quota that is much higher than their recent historical shipments. Conversely, the quota amounts for the CIS countries, from which AWPA members import much of their of low carbon wire rod, were set very low.
While these actions were unexpected, the consequences of the changes to the TRQ program and the free access to NAFTA origin rod are over-shadowed by the impending dumping and countervailing duty margins against nine countries, including Canada and Mexico. The margins are scheduled to be announced in February and March. (See related article.)
AWPA sent out a call to action on the wire rod issues prior to the terrorist attacks on September 11. Several AWPA members sent letters to their Congressmen and women before the government became focused on our national security. We thank the following companies for their political action: Alliance Steel Trading, Cooper Tools, Industrial Wire Products, Insteel, Johnstown Wire, Lincoln Electric, MGF Industries, Mid-Continent Nail, Sivaco, and Taubensee Steel & Wire. Importantly, Leggett & Platt hosted Ambassador Zoellick, USTR, on a plant tour in Carthage, MO to provide first-hand information on how important our NAFTA partners are to the wire industry.
USTR Says Steel Industry Must
Restructure
The US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick recently told the National
Association of Manufacturers that US steel companies must come up with
a meaningful industry restructuring plan to qualify for any protection
resulting from the Section 201 steel investigation. "I'm not going forward
on this unless there's restructuring" to make the industry more competitive,
he stated.
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American Wire Producers Association
801 North Fairfax Street, Suite 211
Alexandria, VA 22314-1757
Tel (703) 299-4434 | Fax (703) 299-9233 | E-mail info@awpa.org | Web: www.awpa.org
