CHARLESTON, W.Va. — State Senator Ryan Weld felt the gut punch like everybody from the northern panhandle Thursday when Cleveland Cliffs announced plans to idle its tinplate mill in Weirton and put more than 900 workers out of a job in April.
Weld said the decision was forced by the recent ruling from the International Trade Commission. The Commission rejected a claim by the U.S. Department of Commerce foreign steel makers had been dumping their tinplate products on the U.S. market at significantly reduced rates, creating a competitive imbalance.
“A lot of people were left very confused by the decision. Once again, the federal government has left the city of Weirton and its steel industry with a legacy of closed mills and unemployed workers,” said Weld.
Chances of reversing the decision appeared very dim. Weld said the problem is the only place to appeal a decision by the ITC is the ITC.
“So the same people who told you you were terrible on Monday will turn around in a few months and tell you you’re terrible again,” he explained.
According to Weld it’s a decision which falls squarely on the Biden Administration and what he considers a failure to protect American industry.
“The U.S. steel industry and American manufacturers don’t need to have the scales tipped in their favor, but they do need the U.S. Government to stand up and do its job and make sure there’s a level playing field for everybody. It seems like in this case, the ITC and this administration was much more worried about the Chinese and Russian steel industry and other countries we import steel from and not the U.S. steel industry, which is pretty damn sad.” he said.
Weld said unfortunately about the best thing he and his colleagues can do is to prepare Workforce West Virginia for a big influx of jobless benefit applications in a month and a half.