WASHINGTON, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Potential U.S. restrictions on imported steel productions could threaten 1.3 million jobs and have unintended and disastrous consequences, a recent study shows.
The study released on Tuesday was conducted by Martin Associates, an economic and transportation consulting firm, under the request of the American Institute for International Steel, which represents steel importers.
The study found that steel imports supported 1.3 million jobs and generated 239.8 billion U.S. dollars of total economic activity, as well as 62.7 billion U.S. dollars in personal income and local consumption, and 19.4 billion U.S. dollars in federal, state and local taxes
In defense of the U.S. steel industry, the Trump administration in April invoked a decade-old, rarely used trade tool, known as a Section 232 investigation under the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, to look into all foreign steel imports.
"We are very concerned about the unintended and disastrous consequences which Section 232 restrictions on imports of basic steel products would have on our industries," a coalition of companies that rely on foreign steel said in a letter to U.S. President Donald Trump this week.
"Import restrictions ... would impact both the availability and price of steel raw materials, placing downstream industries at crippling competitive disadvantage to foreign manufacturers of our product," the letter said.
The letter was signed by more than a dozen of associations representing companies that collectively employ about one million workers.
