ST. PAUL—U.S. Steel announced today it will be idling three taconite production lines at their Minntac facility, the largest producer of taconite pellets in the United States. 700 employees will be laid off at Minntac. Representative Jason Metsa (DFL-Virginia) released the following statement today regarding the announcement:
“While most families across the country are filing tax returns, Steelworkers in Minnesota and across the nation are filing for unemployment benefits.
“When is Washington going to wake up? We cannot continue to allow foreign countries who are playing by their own rules to continue dumping state-subsidized steel on American shores. These foreign and state-supported companies do not have the same worksite safety standards, retirement benefits, or environmental protections that we have. Will our nation continue to allow the import of illegally-subsidized steel products?
“A nation that allows this to take place is not the America I grew up in. Our nation should stand up and scream from the top of our highest peaks that we support AMERICAN STEEL made from AMERICAN ORE—the same steel and ore that built planes, battleships, and tanks, and won the Second World War. Our nation should cry out in support of the workforce that first negotiated healthcare benefits into their employment contracts, forever changing a benefit many of us take for granted in our employment today. Our nation should support the Steelworkers producing taconite on our Iron Range—a workforce that produces more tons of ore per man hour than any other in the world.
“When is enough going to be enough? When will United States Congress stand up for the American worker? When will they take action and prove that they do not support our global competitors who have been manipulating global ore prices and criminally dumping their products on our shores?
“Congress should have taken action long before now, fixing the broken trade agreements we have entered into. International trade agreements, like NAFTA, that are destroying American manufacturing and the American steel industry. Congressman Nolan told me that even Whitehouse experts say that it is nearly impossible to enforce these trade agreements. I have a solution. Let’s not enter into them. It's time America supported the American workforce.
“Talk is cheap, it is time for action.”
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