SF 258

1st Engrossment - 82nd Legislature (2001 - 2002) Posted on 12/15/2009 12:00am

  1.1                             A resolution 
  1.2             requesting a ban on the importation of certain steel 
  1.3             products. 
  1.4      
  1.5      WHEREAS, the current crisis in the domestic steel industry 
  1.6   has led to the closure of LTV Steel Mining Company and to 
  1.7   reductions in production at most other mining facilities in 
  1.8   Minnesota, causing job losses at mines and for vendors and 
  1.9   resulting in hardship in communities across the entire state of 
  1.10  Minnesota; and 
  1.11     WHEREAS, this crisis has been generated by surges in United 
  1.12  States imports of steel, both from countries whose currencies 
  1.13  have depreciated and from steel-producing countries that are no 
  1.14  longer able to export steel to the countries in economic crisis; 
  1.15  and 
  1.16     WHEREAS, foreign government trade restrictions and private 
  1.17  restraints of trade distort international trade and investment 
  1.18  patterns and result in burdens on United States commerce, 
  1.19  including absorption of a disproportionate share of diverted 
  1.20  steel trade, which ultimately have a detrimental effect on this 
  1.21  state's economy; and 
  1.22     WHEREAS, there is a well-recognized need for improvements 
  1.23  in the enforcement of United States trade laws to provide an 
  1.24  effective response to these situations; NOW, THEREFORE, 
  2.1      BE IT RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota 
  2.2   that it requests the President of the United States to commence 
  2.3   immediate action to determine the entry into the customs 
  2.4   territory of the United States of all steel products that are 
  2.5   the product of or are manufactured in Australia, China, South 
  2.6   Africa, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Indonesia, India, Japan, Russia, 
  2.7   South Korea, Mexico, or Brazil to determine whether the 
  2.8   governments of those countries are abiding by the spirit and 
  2.9   letter of international trade agreements with respect to imports 
  2.10  of steel products into the United States, and take all actions 
  2.11  necessary to enforce applicable trade agreements and laws of the 
  2.12  United States pertaining to steel imports. 
  2.13     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature requests the 
  2.14  President of the United States to immediately impose a one-year 
  2.15  ban on imports of all steel products that are the products of or 
  2.16  are manufactured in Australia, China, South Africa, Ukraine, 
  2.17  Kazakhstan, Indonesia, India, Japan, Russia, South Korea, 
  2.18  Mexico, or Brazil if the President finds that the governments of 
  2.19  those countries are not abiding by the spirit and letter of 
  2.20  international trade agreements with respect to imports of steel 
  2.21  products into the United States. 
  2.22     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature requests the 
  2.23  President of the United States to immediately consider taconite 
  2.24  pellets produced in the United States to be an article like or 
  2.25  directly competitive with imported semifinished steel slabs 
  2.26  within the restrictions of section 201 of the Trade Act of 1974, 
  2.27  United States Code, title 19, sections 2251 to 2253. 
  2.28     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State of the 
  2.29  State of Minnesota is directed to prepare copies of this 
  2.30  memorial and transmit them to the President of the United States 
  2.31  and to Minnesota's Senators and Representatives in Congress.