CLEVELAND—The fight to end the section 201 steel tariffs took a step forward in March when the House Ways and Means Committee submitted a request to the International Trade Commission (ITC) that it conduct an investigation to examine the impact of the steel tariffs on steel-consuming industries.

The section 201 steel tariffs, imposed by President Bush in March 2002, have had a devastating impact on the nation's 13 million steel-consuming workers, according to the Precision Metalforming Association (PMA, Independence, OH). The industry has absorbed price increases, supply disruptions and business and financial losses.

For the past 13 months, the PMA and the Consuming Industries Trade Action Coalition (CITAC) Steel Task Force, comprised of steel-consuming companies and their trade associations, have worked to make the White House aware of the manufacturing sector's concerns about the competitive conditions now affecting their companies.

“This investigation is a major victory for steel consumers,“ says Bill Gaskin, PMA president. “We are finally getting the chance to prove to the government and to the public how destructive the section 201 tariffs have been on our members and the entire industry.“