U.S. Puts Duties on Steel From 19 Nations

WASHINGTON — The Commerce Department announced Wednesday that it had found 19 nations guilty of dumping steel in the U.S. market and imposed temporary duties on more than $2 billion in imported steel.

The duties range from less than 1% to more than 100% on four types of steel products from nations including Canada, Japan, Belgium, Spain, Poland, Germany, Finland, Mexico and Brazil.

Commerce Secretary Ronald H. Brown said that “the Administration fully supports the rights of the domestic industry to obtain relief from unfair trade practices under U.S. laws and will make sure that these laws are enforced in a fair and effective manner.”

Officials of steel exporting nations immediately blasted the Commerce Department action, saying it was unjustified and designed merely to protect the domestic steelmakers against foreign competition.

Hiroshi Saito, chairman of the Japan Iron & Steel Federation, called the ruling “highly regrettable” and said Japanese producers “will continue to work strenuously to prove . . . that their exports have not caused any injury to the American steel industry.”