WEST CHESTER, Ohio, March 08, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AK Steel (NYSE:AKS) said that the company strongly supports President Trump's announcement today that imports of steel products will be subject to a 25% tariff.
“We thank the President and his Administration, on behalf of AK Steel and our many thousands of employees, for identifying and understanding the unfair trade practices that have plagued the domestic steel industry for decades, and for having the vision and fortitude to take meaningful action to address them,” said AK Steel Chief Executive Officer Roger K. Newport.
The President’s action follows a Section 232 investigation initiated by the Department of Commerce in April 2017 that concluded that foreign steel imports threaten to impair U.S. national security. AK Steel Chief Executive Officer Roger K. Newport and leaders of other steel companies in the United States joined President Trump at the White House last week to discuss Section 232 remedies.
"We support President Trump for taking the bold action of imposing a 25% global tariff on steel to defend America's steel industry and its workers from imports that threaten our national and economic security," said Roger Newport. "Nowhere is this threat more evident than in electrical steel where AK Steel is now the only domestic producer of electrical steel for electrical transformers. Years of surging imports and the subsequent market volatility caused the only other U.S. producer to exit the market in 2016. This action by the President could not come soon enough as the surge of electrical steel imports continued throughout last year, with imports nearly doubling in 2017 when compared to 2016."
AK Steel is the only steel manufacturer in North America that produces carbon, stainless and electrical steels. AK Steel looks forward to continuing to work with the Administration and the Department of Commerce to address the need to cover downstream electrical steel products that are critical to our nation's electrical grid infrastructure, which is vital to the national security of the United States. This is important to curb any potential future circumvention of the remedy that would render it ineffective.
AK Steel
AK Steel is a leading producer of flat-rolled carbon, stainless and electrical steel products, primarily for the automotive, infrastructure and manufacturing, electrical power generation and distribution markets. Through its subsidiaries, the company also provides customer solutions with carbon and stainless steel tubing products, die design and tooling, and hot- and cold-stamped components. Headquartered in West Chester, Ohio (Greater Cincinnati), the company has approximately 9,200 employees at manufacturing operations across seven states (Alabama, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia), as well as in Canada and Mexico. Additional information about AK Steel is available at www.aksteel.com.
Forward Looking Statements
Certain statements made or incorporated by reference in this release reflect management’s estimates and beliefs and are intended to be “forward-looking statements” identified in the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as “expects,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “intends,” “plans,” “estimates” and other similar references to future periods typically identify forward-looking statements.
The company cautions readers that forward-looking statements reflect the company’s current beliefs and judgments, but are not guarantees of future performance or outcomes. They are based on a number of assumptions and estimates that are inherently affected by economic, competitive, regulatory, and operational risks, uncertainties and contingencies that are beyond the company’s control, and upon assumptions about future business decisions and conditions that may change.
Forward-looking statements are only predictions and involve risks and uncertainties, resulting in the possibility that actual events or performance will differ materially from such predictions as a result of certain risk factors. Such factors that could cause the company’s actual results and financial condition to differ materially from the results contemplated by such forward-looking statements include reduced selling prices, shipments and profits associated with a highly competitive and cyclical industry; domestic and global steel overcapacity; U.S. government actions on NAFTA and/or other trade agreements, treaties or policies; changes in the cost of raw materials, supplies and energy; the company’s significant amount of debt and other obligations; severe financial hardship or bankruptcy of one or more of the company’s major customers or key suppliers; the company’s significant proportion of sales to the automotive market; reduced demand in key product markets due to competition from aluminum or other alternatives to steel; excess inventory of raw materials; supply chain disruptions or poor quality of raw materials or supplies; production disruption or reduced production levels; the company’s healthcare and pension obligations; not reaching new labor agreements on a timely basis; major litigation, arbitrations, environmental issues and other contingencies; regulatory compliance and changes; climate change and greenhouse gas emissions; conditions in the financial, credit, capital and banking markets; the company’s use of derivative contracts to hedge commodity pricing volatility; potential permanent idling of facilities; inability to fully realize benefits of margin enhancement initiatives; information technology security threats, cybercrime and exposure of private information; that the company will not achieve the expected benefits of the acquisition of PPHC Holdings, LLC (Precision Partners) and/or integrate Precision Partners successfully; changes in tax laws and regulations; as well as those risks and uncertainties discussed in more detail in the company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017, as updated in subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission. As such, the company cautions readers not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only to the company’s plans, assumptions and expectations as of the date hereof. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, except as required by law.