Tokyo, Japan – The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative released the following statement at the close of the Global Forum on Steel Excess Capacity ministerial meeting held in Tokyo, Japan today. Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Dennis Shea led the U.S. delegation at the Forum.
“The United States thanks Japan for hosting this ministerial and for the energy it has brought to its chairmanship of the Global Forum process this year. The United States has been an active and committed partner in this process, supporting Japan’s efforts to seek prompt implementation of the Forum’s past policy recommendations, which are aimed at reducing excess capacity as well as restoring balance and market function in the global steel sector.
“The decision by a vast majority of Global Forum members to continue the work of the Forum beyond 2019 is a recognition that severe excess capacity is a continuing crisis. The Global Forum’s policy prescriptions and information-sharing process will not alone resolve the crisis of excess capacity in the global steel sector. This will only happen when those that have created the problem take concrete steps toward true market-based reform. Participation in the Global Forum process is a signal of each member government’s commitment to adhere to principles intended to ensure market-based outcomes.
“The United States will continue to work with like-minded partners to seek long-term solutions to the crisis of global excess capacity and the market distortions and global imbalances that it causes. This includes, but is not limited to, exchanging information on the policies and practices of countries at the root cause of the crisis, whose measures generate and sustain steelmaking capacity misaligned with market forces. At the same time, we will continue to take necessary action to address the harmful impact of this ongoing crisis on U.S. companies and workers as well as our essential security interests.”
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