Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio) welcomed the passage of an amendment he cosponsored with Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) to ensure steel companies can more easily seek help from illegally undersold and subsidized imports. Portman and Wyden also welcomed inclusion of crucial legislation to crack down on customs duty evasion schemes through the ENFORCE Act. 

Excerpts of Portman’s remarks are below and video can be found here.

“…I’m pleased to learn that an amendment crucial for the American steel manufacturers and steelworkers has been adopted to the customs bill. This will help to ensure that American steelworkers can remain globally competitive.

“…When competitors cheat they need to be held accountable and this bipartisan measure will do just that…

“Unfortunately, some of our competitors don’t play by the rules sometimes, and that’s why I’ve worked with Senator Wyden to crack down on these countries that evade duties through evasion schemes that can be addressed through the ENFORCE Act, which I strongly support…”

Portman has been working with Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) to crack down on customs duty evasion schemes through the ENFORCE Act.  Stopping these efforts to illegally import goods and deliberately circumvent our customs process is a top priority for American manufacturers.

Foreign steel imports have surged in to the U.S. over the last year with imports rising 36 percent in 2014 verses 2013, and taking a record level of the market share at 28 percent in 2014. Unfortunately, this trend continues with the import market share rising to 33 percent last month. This has left the U.S. Steel Industry operating at only 68 percent capacity utilization for the week ending April 11, and has forced the layoffs of a number of steelworkers across the country, including in Ohio.

Portman and Brown have been working with American steel companies like Nucor, U.S. Steel and the U.S. Steelworkers to ensure that they can more easily seek relief from illegally undersold and subsidized imports.  These provisions are crucial to the competitiveness of Ohio manufacturers.

Portman also voted for Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA), which is critical to help struggling Ohioans. Portman has a long record of backing workers and families through TAA, including supporting the last TAA extension in 2011 to ensure workers and families could continue to be supported.

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