Before the president's steel decision was announced, some progress
had been made on the multilateral front with respect to world steel overcapacity.
In an unprecedented action, the world's steelmakers agreed to cut production
by as much as 97.5 million tons by 2010 at a meeting in Paris. However,
the European Union had warned that its portion of that production cutback
- 13 million tons - would only go into effect if the Bush Administration
refrained from going ahead with punitive tariffs on imports.
The Paris meeting of 39 of the biggest steel-making countries was arranged
under the auspices of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
(OECD). Total worldwide steel production capacity is approximately 1 billion
tons a year. Grant Aldonas, head of the US delegation and Undersecretary
for International Trade at the Department of Commerce, estimated overcapacity
worldwide at 200 million metric tons per year. Production is expected to
reach 835 million tons in 2001, while consumption is estimated at 721 million
tons.
After some further deliberations, participating governments now say
that as much as 103 million to 117 million tons of capacity could be shut
down between 1998 and 2005, with another 18.8 million to 20.8 million tons
promised for closure in the period up to 2010.
The participants are expected to meet again April 14-15, 2002 in Paris.
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