US Steel Permanently Closing Part Of Lorain Plant, State Officials Ask President Trump For Help

LORAIN, OH - US Steel announced on March 11 that it planned on shutting down a portion of its Lorain tubular operations plant. Two local representatives have said the closure is another example of the impact of the dumping of foreign steel on American manufacturing. Representative Marcy Kaptur has also asked President Donald Trump to intervene.

The line being closed has been idled since 2015, the Morning Journal reports. The closure will be made permanent on June 8, the company says. The line in question was used to make smaller pipes. According to the Lorain County Auditor's website, US Steel is one of the largest employers in Lorain County with 523 employees. The company released a statement saying economic conditions led to the closure decision.

Some 58 employees have been on layoff since the line was idled. Some of those workers may be able to transition to other parts of the mill, but that will be determined on a case-by-case basis, The Chronicle reports.

State Representative Dan Ramos, Democrat from Lorain, released a statement on the closure on Friday. He said, "I am deeply disappointed that yet another line is closing here in Lorain. Steel has long been an important driver of our local and state economy, and I am concerned by the social and economic challenges new closures present to our community."

According to the International Trade Association (ITA), the US is the largest importer of steel in the world and the nation has increased its importing 190 percent since the second quarter of 2009. Through the third quarter of 2016, the US was importing about 8 million metric tons of steel and exporting approximately 2 million metric tons of steel.

Looking at pipes and tubing, the five largest importers to the US are South Korea, Canada, Mexico, Turkey and Japan. Four of those five countries had some type of trade remedy imposed on them by Dec. 1, 2016, the ITA reports.

Ramos said he is concerned by the incredible steel trade deficit in the US. "Additionally, though, I am concerned that Washington hasn’t moved in any significant way to battle the dumping of foreign steel, a leading cause in the decline of the domestic steel industry. This federal inaction is particularly troubling given President Trump’s frequent promises to bring back manufacturing jobs and revitalize the domestic steel industry."

Kaptur similarly invoked Trump's name, saying in a letter to the president that, "Respectfully, I would recommend the immediate assistance of your Administration in every way possible to avoid permanent closure of these operations. We invite you to visit Lorain very soon, if that is possible, to assess the dire situation and evaluate alternatives to delay this decision."

Ramos concluded his statement by saying, "I will be writing the president to ask him to make American steel a priority, not just a talking point. If President Trump wants to put “America First”, he can start here. I want him to understand this is not just an economic issue, but a national security issue as well. Our community needs leadership from the White House and Congressional leaders, and we haven’t gotten it."

Kaptur similarly concluded, saying, "The involvement of your economic team to meet with company and labor representatives of U.S. and Republic Steel as well as local and state officials -- in Washington, D.C. or Lorain -- could assist us as we seek an alternative pathway forward so Lorain's historic steel-making capacity may be secured to meet today's market realities. Your Administration's attention to developing an economic reinvestment strategy for Lorain itself and its impacted workforce could offer more hope than the bitter past has delivered here."

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