Steel matters

Get even tougher on foreign steel dumping

The health of the U.S. steel industry is a matter of national security. For Pittsburgh, it’s also a matter of local security. The Trump administration should take a strong stand against foreign steel dumping and penalize the producers.

For years, domestic steelmakers have complained about unfair competition from foreign rivals who sell at below-market rates or receive subsidies from their governments. As the Post-Gazette’s Len Boselovic noted Thursday in a story about a Commerce Department hearing on steel dumping, the practice continues even though the domestic producers have won one trade complaint after another.

“Foreign producers have made it their mission to steal this market,” said David Rintoul, senior vice president of U.S. Steel’s tubular operations. It’s time to level the playing field, and President Donald Trump, who campaigned on promises to end bad trade deals and protect American jobs, should seize the opportunity to do it.

Unfair competition is to be expected from our adversaries, such as China, but it’s particularly galling from allies such as South Korea, where America still maintains a robust military presence and foots the bill for it. Mr. Trump has invoked a 1962 trade law that allows him to penalize steel dumpers through tariffs or other means, and the Commerce Department hearing was a kind of evidence-gathering proceeding intended to help him make up his mind.

Witnesses offered compelling data and poignant comments — “National security begins with primary steelmaking,” said John Ferriola, CEO of North Carolina-based producer Nucor — but Pittsburghers need only look at the fortunes of our hometown company to understand how serious the situation is.

Earlier this month, Mr. Boselovic reported that U.S. Steel has had only one profitable year — 2014, when it made $102 million — since the recession of 2008. Because of financial challenges, the company backed out of plans to build a new headquarters building at the former Civic Arena site in the Lower Hill District, a decision that has delayed redevelopment of a key site and underscored the ripple effect that a major company’s struggles have on a community.

If the U.S. loses its steel industry and the metallurgy knowledge base withers, the country one day could find itself in grave peril.

The Commerce Department plans to complete its report by the end of June. Officials have said the issue is a priority for the Trump administration. It certainly should be.