Washington D.C. – National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC) President Rufus Yerxa released the following statement today following the release by the Commerce Department of the Section 232 Reports on Steel and Aluminum.
“The NFTC is gravely concerned with the Commerce Department’s recommendations to the President to implement sweeping tariffs and quotas on imports of steel and aluminum in the name of national security. We urge the President to reject these recommendations and work with Congress and the entire business community—not just these two industries – to determine how best to address legitimate concerns relating to overcapacity or unfair trade in these sectors.
“There is no doubt that imposing trade restrictions of such magnitude will cause more harm than good to our economy, raising costs to downstream industries that use steel and aluminum, as well as to the ultimate consumers. These sectors are far greater than steel and aluminum in terms of manufacturing output, jobs and exports. This action ignores their interests. Moreover, using “national security” as a pretense to impose broad import protection for entire sectors of our economy is clearly inconsistent with our international obligations. If allowed to stand, it would open the door for other countries to use similar measures against our competitive exports.
“While there are legitimate concerns regarding the adverse effects of global overcapacity or unfair trade, there are other ways to address these problems, including through international negotiations and existing trade remedies designed for that purpose. The actions proposed today are the wrong way to go about it, and will end up hurting our workers, producers and consumers.”
About the NFTC
Serving America’s Global Businesses Since 1914– The National Foreign Trade Council (www.nftc.org) is a leading business organization advocating an open, rules- based global trading system. Founded in 1914 by a broad-based group of American companies, the NFTC now serves hundreds of member companies through its offices in Washington and New York.
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