WASHINGTON - Steelworkers and their employers say the hefty tariffs President Bush will impose on cheap steel imports give the feeble industry some breathing room but won't provide the protection needed for recovery. <br>
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Bush's plan, announced Tuesday, drew sharp criticism from U.S. trading partners and industries that rely on low-cost foreign steel. They said the tariffs will cost jobs and raise prices for American shoppers for such things as cars and appliances. <br>
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``There are thousands of small-business owners across the country who depend on steel, who are wondering what happened to the open-trade, no-taxes-over-my-dead-body president they thought they elected,'' said Jon Jenson, chairman of the Consuming Industries Trade Action Coalition, which campaigned against the increase.<br>
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The decision required Bush to walk a tightrope between his commitment to free markets and a political promise to steel unions that could pay off big in coming elections. <br>
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``We're a free-trading nation, and in order to remain a free-trading nation, we must enforce law,'' Bush said Tuesday. ``And that's exactly what I did. I decided that imports were severely affecting ... an important industry.'' <br>
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His decision denied the unions 40 percent across-the-board tariffs they had sought. He also rejected an industry-proposed $10 billion bailout of pension and health care benefits for retired steelworkers whose companies have gone bankrupt. <br>
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Still, his three-year package of tariffs of 8 percent to 30 percent generally was applauded by both the steel industry and its workers.<br>
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The plan takes effect March 20, and the tariffs and quotas it levies will be eased each year. <br>
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For example, the Bush plan imposes a 30 percent tariff on slab steel, the country's biggest import, but exempts the first 5.4 million tons imported. Last year, imports of slab steel totaled 5.7 million tons, meaning if current levels hold little of the slab steel coming into the country will be assessed. <br>
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The tariff drops to 24 percent the second year and 5.9 million imported tons are exempted. By the third year, the tariff decreases to 18 percent and 6.4 million tons are exempted. <br>
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``It's not as comprehensive as we had hoped, but it certainly is the first time we've seen some light at the end of a long, dark tunnel,'' said United Steelworkers of America President Leo Gerard.<br>
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Nations hit hardest by the tariffs include China, Japan, South Korea, Ukraine and Russia. U.S. trading partners protested immediately. <br>
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``The U.S. decision to go down the route of protectionism is a major setback for the world trading system,'' European Union Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy said. <br>
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He told reporters the EU would challenge the decision before the World Trade Organization. South Korea, the world's No. 6 steel exporter, said it would join an EU appeal to the WTO, and officials in Japan and Australia said they were considering such an action. <br>
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Steel prices are at a 20-year low, and more than 30 U.S. steel mills have filed for bankruptcy protection since the end of 1997. <br>
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``I think we're going to make it,'' said Joe Chiodo, 48, a steelworker for 25 years who works the blast furnace at the Edgar Thomson Plant in Braddock, Pa. ``We'll take our 30 percent and do the best we can.'' <br>
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John Walker, chief executive of Weirton Steel in Weirton, W.Va., said the action shows the Bush administration can be trusted. <br>
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``They lived up to their word,'' Walker said. ``We would we have liked more, yes. We would have liked the tariffs to last longer, yes. But it gives us some breathing room.'' <br>
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Bush and running mate Dick Cheney courted steelworkers in the 2000 election campaign, promising to help the industry after the Clinton administration refused. <br>
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Political strategists say steel could play a major role in November in as many as six House races, meaning it could determine control of the closely divided chamber. <br>
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Much of the steel industry also is concentrated in states crucial to winning the White House. Bush lost Michigan, New York and Pennsylvania and narrowly carried Ohio and West Virginia in 2000. Also, many of the roughly 300,000 retired steelworkers live in Florida. <br>
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``Political considerations have influenced this decision very heavily,'' tariffs opponent Jenson said. ``Certainly the economic data point the other way.'' <br>
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About 100,000 businesses that employ 12.8 million American workers rely heavily on steel. With the tariffs, those businesses will lose about eight jobs for every steel job that gets protected, Jenson said. <br>
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A study by Jenson's coalition and the Heritage Foundation estimated that the full package of 40 percent tariffs would have forced a family of four to spend up to $283 more a year to buy steel products. Study author Aaron Schavey said late Tuesday that the impact would be lowered somewhat.
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