Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) released the statement below following a meeting on trade policy at the White House with President Trump and Administration officials:
“While I commend the Administration for convening today’s meeting, the time for talk about standing up for our steelworkers has passed. It’s time for action. Our steelworkers are getting the short end of the stick because foreign countries are cheating on trade. Workers in Pennsylvania have watched imports surge since the announcement of the steel investigation last April. They have lived under the stress of this Administration’s inaction for too long.
AK Steel in Butler, Pennsylvania is the only domestic producer of electrical steel. When Hurricane Sandy hit, they helped repair our damaged grid. Now, they need our help to guard against trade cheating. In Conshohocken, Arcelor Mittal announced they were laying off almost 200 steelworkers last year because they are being harmed by unfair trade practices. Steel executives wrote the President this month telling him that “now is the time for Presidential action to prevent excess steel capacity and surging steel imports from undermining our national security and the viability of the U.S. steel industry.” One worker said of the Administration, “They’ve sat on this for far too long.” He’s right. It’s time for the Administration to put our workers first.”
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