Steel Support Urged

An officer one of the nation’s largest steel mill services and scrap companies is urging business associates to contact Washington to support U.S. government tariffs on imported steel.

David Coslov, vice president of maintenance/equipment with Tube City Inc., sent an e-mail early this week urging recipients to contact the White House directly. “Urge President Bush to initiate a 40 percent tariff for four years against flat-rolled products shipped into the U.S.,” Coslov writes in his e-mail.

In the e-mail, Coslov provides recipients with both the White House main switchboard number and the Web address (www.whitehouse.gov/contact/) through which the President’s office can be e-mailed.

Coslov also urges attendance at a rally to take place Thurs., Feb. 28 in Washington D.C. The “Stand up for Steel” rally comes just six days before the March 6 deadline the Bush Administration has to announce the trade relief measures it will take to assist the domestic steel industry.

Under a trade grievance procedure known as Section 201, U.S. trade authorities have upheld the steel industry’s complaints about the dumping of some below-cost steel products by foreign steelmakers into the U.S. The Bush Administration has until March 6 to declare what measures it will take to provide assistance to aggrieved U.S. companies.