The U.S. International Trade Commission began hearings Monday on a flood of steel imports, with some members of Congress calling for emergency curbs to protect the domestic industry from steel products from Japan and other countries.
Based on the hearings, the ITC, an independent federal agency, will issue rulings on an item-by-item basis Oct. 22 on whether inflows of foreign-made steel products are hurting the U.S. industry.
At the first hearing Monday in the ITC's Washington headquarters, congressional members from states with strong steel industries, including Sen. John Rockefeller IV, a Democrat from West Virginia, and Rep. Bob Nay, a Republican from Ohio, called for the emergency steel import curb.
Lawyers and consultants who attended the hearing on behalf of foreign producers, including the European Union, Brazil, Japan, South Korea and Russia, opposed the curbs, saying there are no unfairly priced steel imports.