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For Immediate Release WEIRTON, W.VA. – Weirton Steel Corp. today announced it supports a position taken against the Consuming Industries Trade Action Coalition (CITAC). CITAC, which represents steel consuming companies, alleged earlier this week that 200,000 U.S. jobs were lost last year because of higher steel prices caused by President Bush's Section 201 tariffs on steel imports. On Wednesday, several steel associations and a union refuted CITAC's claim and provided evidence that the tariffs helped create 229,000 jobs in 2002. The organizations include the American Iron and Steel Institute, the Steel Manufacturers Association (SMA), the Committee on Pipe and Tube Imports and the United Steelworkers of America. "First, there was an organized campaign to persuade the president from imposing the tariffs. Today, nearly one year into the tariff program, the campaign continues, but now it's all about stopping the program at any cost," said John H. Walker, Weirton Steel president and chief executive officer. "The fact is, the president's three-year tariff program is working. It has kept surges of imports at bay – especially those sold illegally – and has allowed prices to improve. As the organizations report, the tariffs helped create 229,000 jobs within steel consuming industries." SMA data revealed that while two million U.S. manufacturing jobs have been lost since 2000, they are not the result of higher steel prices nor the tariff program. SMA claims many factors are responsible for the manufacturing recession – from the value of the dollar to slow demand and high health care costs. "Time and time again, CITAC's claims have been proven to be inaccurate. For example, before the president imposed the tariff program, CITAC stated the tariffs would raise prices on products made with steel and consumers may not be able to afford them. But between the time the tariffs began last March through the end of 2002, wholesale prices of motor vehicles declined 2.2 percent and home appliance prices dropped 1 percent," Walker commented. "We've also learned that steel represents less than 0.2 percent of the economy. The president's tariffs cover less than 20 percent of total imports and less than 5 percent of the total U.S. steel market. In 2002, imports of finished steel were higher than they were in 2001. With these facts, the tariff program could not have harmed consumers or caused substantial job loss." Weirton Steel is the seventh
largest U.S. integrated steel producer.
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