Steel-consuming companies won an important victory on March 29, when the Committee on Ways and Means, U.S. House of Representatives, formally requested that the International Trade Commission (ITC) analyze the impact of 201 steel tariffs on steel consumers. The section 332 study assures that critical information from steel consumers will be available to help guide President bush during the tariffs' mid-point review, as he decides whether steel tariffs should be continued past September 20. In addition to gathering data for the report through extensive questionnaires completed by steel consumers in May, ITC will hold a section 332 hearing on June 19, in Washington, D.C., to hear directly from steel consumers about the impact of steel tariffs on their businesses. Precision Metalforming Association (PMA) members have documented that steel tariffs have seriously disrupted their business operations over the past year. Since 201 steel tariffs were imposed in March 2002, steel consumers have experienced broken raw-material supply contracts, price increases of 30 to 50 percent, unstable delivery schedules and increased quality problems.
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