Two editorialists recently addressed the section 201 steel trade case. Writing for the
Washington Times (Oct. 18, p. A17), Greg Mastel expressed the importance of section 201 law, and more specifically of the need for the president to use it to grant relief to the steel industry. The writer adds that "Section 201 seems to fill an important political need. As the steel import crisis demonstrated, a surge in imports can spawn resistance to free trade, witnessed by the House of Representative's vote to impose quotas on steel even though such restrictions seemed to violate the WTO."
He concludes that the president's decision on the steel wire rod case will be one of the
most important trade policy decisions he will make. "If he allows section 201 to further fall into disuse, it will be speeding the erosion of a fully WTO-consistent trade device that has the potential to encourage positive adjustment while preserving support for free trade. This decision is an excellent opportunity for the Administration and the Congress to begin a long overdue effort to once again make section 201 a central part of US trade policy."
On the flip side, The New Republic columnist Steve Chapman (Nov. 1, p. 16) questions
why any action is needed. He admits that last year there was a surge in cheap steel imports from
countries affected by the economic crises in Asia and Russia. "Beset by plunging currencies and slumping demand," he writes, "They obviously were eager to sell to the US at prices domestic steelmakers could not profitably match." So Washington came to their aid with dumping cases against Germany, France, South Korea, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Taiwan, Great Britain, Russia and Brazil.
However, while the big steel companies continued to complain about imports,
construction firms, appliance companies and other firms using steel were rejoicing. Mr. Chapman ends with a question: "Steelworkers are outnumbered 40 to one by workers in industries that buy steel. What justice or economic sense is there in defending the former at the expense of the latter?"
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