U.S. CUSTOMS OPENS STEEL MONITORING CENTER

    U.S. Customs will open a center in Chicago next week to monitor trends and developments in steel imports, in response to the recent White House Steel Action Program.
   Customs has been tracking imported steel from Chicago for about two years as part of its Office of Strategic Trade. "Now we have the weight of the White House telling us to do this," said Christopher M. Perry, international trade manager for Customs.
   The new steel monitoring center will be managed by Ed Goggin, director of Customs’ Strategic Trade Center in Chicago. Eight Customs staffers will support the program. The center will also communicate regularly with Customs’ port offices around the country.
   Customs says the center will work closely with the Commerce Department and the U.S. Trade Representative’s office on steel import issues. The agency will also communicate regularly with industry groups, such as the American Iron and Steel Institute and the American Institute for International Steel, their feedback.
   Customs has done similar work with textile imports from its office in
New York. "In the future, Customs will have to be alert to these particular areas of interest and devote resources to them," said Philip Metzger, director of strategic trade operations at Customs’ Office of Strategic Trade in Washington.