Steelworkers Hope for Action on Commerce Dept.’s Tariff Proposal

GRANITE CITY, Ill.—With U.S. Steel’s Granite City Works closed or running at less than half capacity for more than two years, the U.S. Commerce Department’s recommending tariffs and quotas on steel imports brought both hope and skepticism here. A department report released Feb. 16 proposed either a 24% tariff on all steel imports, or a 53% tariff on imports from 12 countries—including China, now the world’s leading steel producer, which has regularly been accused of “dumping” cut-price steel into the U.S. market. “There are still no changes as of yet,” Dan Simmons, president of United Steelworkers Local 1899, told the Alton Telegraph. Only about 730 of the Granite City Works’ about 1,800 union workers have been brought back since the plant shut down temporarily in December 2015. The report got a similar reaction in the Ohio Valley. “I think it’s all positive,” Mark Glyptis, president of Steelworkers Local 2911 in Weirton, W. Va., told WTOV-TV. But he’s heard administrations talk about tariffs for 30 years, and “then they’re afraid of trade wars.” The President has until April 11 to decide whether to act on any of the recommendations. Read more