Association Board Decries Move to Ban Scrap Exports

The National Association of Manufacturers’ board of directors has weighed in against the call by some groups to ban the export of scrap metal.

While acknowledging the problems with soaring scrap prices, Jerry Jasinowski, president of NAM, said “We carefully debated, and decided that was not the direction to move.”

Instead, the NAM has called for the Bush Administration to work through the World Trade Organization to persuade the roughly one dozen countries that have imposed export restrictions on scrap steel and other industrial supplies to drop the curbs.

In voting to oppose any ban, Jasinowski said the NAM Board was especially concerned about a potential drift toward protectionism. "The U.S. is the biggest exporter in the world and has more to lose from an interruption of world commerce than anyone," Jasinowski said. "Protectionism isn't a cure -it's a disease that will turn a bad economic cold into pneumonia - or worse."

The NAM Board approved also a resolution "opposing WTO-illegal foreign controls on the export of industrial raw materials." Scarcity of many raw materials, especially steel scrap, has become a major problem for many U.S. manufacturers. The resolution urges that the U.S. government "initiate consultations on an urgent basis with countries that have undertaken such actions and encourage them to immediately cease controls on raw materials exports."