•HCON 328 IH
Whereas the current financial crises in Asia, Russia, and
other regions have involved massive depreciation in the
currencies of several key steel-producing and steel con-
suming countries, along with a collapse in the domestic
demand for steel in these countries;
Whereas the crises have generated and will continue to gen-
erate surges in United States imports of steel, both from
the countries whose currencies have depreciated in the
crisis and from steel producing countries that are no
longer able to export steel to the countries in economic
crisis;
Whereas United States imports of finished steel mill products
from Asian steel producing countries—the People’s Re-
public of China, Japan, Korea, India, Taiwan, Indonesia,
Thailand, and Malaysia—have increased by 79 percent in
the first 5 months of 1998 compared to the same period
in 1997;
Whereas year-to-date imports of steel from Russia now ex-
ceed the record import levels of 1997, and steel imports
from Russia and Ukraine now approach 2,500,000 net
tons;
Whereas foreign government trade restrictions and private re-
straints of trade distort international trade and invest-
ment patterns and result in burdens on United States
commerce, including absorption of a disproportionate
share of diverted steel trade;
Whereas the European Union, for example, despite also being
a major economy, in 1997 imported only one-tenth as
much finished steel products from Asian steel producing
countries as the United States did and has restricted im-
•HCON 328 IH
ports of steel from the Commonwealth of Independent
States, including Russia;
Whereas the United States is simultaneously facing a sub-
stantial increase in steel imports from countries within
the Commonwealth of Independent States, including Rus-
sia, caused in part by the closure of Asian markets;
Whereas the United States, through the International Mone-
tary Fund, generously participates in a bailout of the cri-
sis countries on terms that do not deter and in fact en-
courage them to export their way out of the crisis; and
Whereas there is a well-recognized need for improvements in
the enforcement of United States trade laws to provide
an effective response to such situations: Now, therefore,
be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate
concurring), That the Congress calls upon the President
to—
(1) pursue enhanced enforcement of United
States trade laws with respect to the surge of steel
imports into the United States, using all remedies
available under those laws including offsetting du-
ties, quantitative restraints, and other authorized re-
medial measures as appropriate;
(2) pursue with all tools at his disposal a more
equitable sharing of the burden of accepting imports
of finished steel products from Asia and the coun-
tries within the Commonwealth of Independent
States;
•HCON 328 IH
(3) establish a task force within the executive
branch with responsibility for closely monitoring
United States imports of steel; and
(4) report to the Congress by no later than
January 5, 1999, with a comprehensive plan for re-
sponding to this import surge, including ways of lim-
iting its deleterious effects on employment, prices,
and investment in the United States steel industry.
Æ