DISCUSSING TRADE — U.S. Sens. Joe Manchin and Sherrod Brown meet with Cleveland-Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves outside of the Weirton administrative offices during a visit to the city in September. -- Craig Howell

WEIRTON — The Weirton tinplate production plant will be idled indefinitely in April, Cleveland-Cliffs announced this morning.

The move is a direct result of the unanimous decision issued by all four members of the International Trade Commission negating the implementation of anti-dumping and countervailing duties on tin mill products calculated by the Department of Commerce, the company said this morning.

A WARN notice is being issued today to approximately 900 impacted employees. These employees will be provided relocation opportunities to work at other Cliffs’ facilities or severance packages.

In January 2023, Cleveland-Cliffs and co-petitioners the United Steelworkers filed antidumping and countervailing duty petitions related to unfairly traded tin and chromium coated sheet steel products. After finding evidence of dumping and subsidization, on Jan. 5 of this year, the Department of Commerce announced duties on four countries, including Canada, China, Germany and South Korea. However, on February 6, the ITC unanimously rejected these tariffs.

“We worked very closely with our partners at the USW on this solution to save Weirton, and together fought tirelessly for its survival. In what was our final effort to maintain tinplate production here in America, we proved that we are forced to operate on an uneven playing field, and that the deck was stacked in favor of the importers. Despite the Department of Commerce finding evidence of dumping and subsidization from respondent countries, the ITC shockingly ruled against imposition of tariffs, keeping the uneven playing field in place and making it impossible for us to viably produce tinplate. We have been upfront and open with union leadership throughout this process and our partnership with the USW remains unbreakable,” Lourenco Goncalves, president and chief executive officer of Cleveland-Cliffs said.

“To the tin can makers and consumer groups who irrationally fought against American jobs and a domestic-based food supply chain, this outcome is due to your own greed,” Goncalves added.”We disproved all the arguments leveled against the domestic industry and workers. Furthermore, Weirton recently concluded a successful run of drawn and ironed material that tested perfectly with zero defects. This test proves that Weirton and its workers are able to manufacture all the products the market demands. The ITC’s decision is a travesty for America, middle-class jobs, and our critical food supply chains. This bad outcome requires better and stronger trade laws. We will continue to work tirelessly with our Congressional champions who fought with us in this case to improve the trade laws so that the American industry and our workers are not left behind.”

Cliffs is maintaining its 2024 sales volume guidance of 16.5 million tons of overall steel products.