Turkish steel exporters on the offensive in D.C.

The Turkish Steel Exporters’ Association are meeting with federal government officials and industry experts in Washington this week with plan to improve U.S.-Turkish steel trade relations.    Members of the Turkish Steel Exporters’ Association are meeting with federal government officials and industry experts in Washington early this week to discuss U.S.-Turkey trade relations and advocate for more open international trade in steel products.
   “This U.S. visit could not come at a more important time, as recent antidumping and countervailing duty filings by U.S. steel producers underscore the need for improved global steel trade relations,” said Namik Ekinci, the association’s president, in a statement. “It is our hope that from these meetings, steps will be made towards settling intensifying trade disputes and curbing unproductive litigation.”
   Last week, the U.S. International Trade Administration voted to continue its antidumping and countervailing duty investigations related to imports of hot-rolled flat steel products from a half-dozen countries, including Turkey. On July 22, U.S. steel producers also filed a complaint against Turkish imports of heavy-walled rectangular carbon steel pipes and tubes. The recent petitions follow a 2014 ruling in which the Commerce Department imposed antidumping and countervailing duties on certain oil country tubular goods (OCTG) from Turkey.
   The Turkish trade group has urged the Turkish Ministry of Economy to appeal the OCTG countervailing duty ruling before the World Trade Organization, calling this case and other U.S. import investigations of Turkish steel “unmerited.”
   “As a longtime ally of the U.S. and with a proposed U.S-EU trade agreement up for discussion, [the Turkish Steel Exporters’ Association] is looking forward to meeting with policymakers and sees this as an opportunity to facilitate positive conversation and change,” Ekinci said.