The crisis of cheap, imported steel in the U.S. has not eased.

The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported last month that total steel imports through the end of April totaled 10.1 million net tons, 6.9 percent higher than the same period a year ago. And foreign steel manufacturers are continuing to try to work around U.S. law to keep up the flow of cheap steel.

Last year President Bush pledged to help the financially troubled American steel industry with the imposition of Sections 201/203 of the U.S. trade law. Bush agreed to impose tariffs of up to 30 percent on certain steel imports for a period of three years. The tariffs are intended to level the playing field for U.S. steel manufacturers, who are forced to compete against cheap foreign steel whose production is subsidized by their government.

More than 20 U.S. steel manufacturers have gone out of business in the last several years, which has put a big hurt into the American job market. In Michigan, the construction industry has lost work at the mines in the U.P. and at steel mills downstate.

"Unfortunately, there is an ongoing campaign to try to undermine the effectiveness of the president's 201 remedy," said Andrew G. Sharkey, III, president of the American Iron and Steel Institute. "It is ironic that while foreign governments are threatening immediate retaliation because the United States has taken necessary action on steel in the U.S. national interest, many steel markets abroad have become ever more tightly protected against imports since March; steel prices have risen significantly in many foreign steel markets, and profits are up for most offshore steel producers."

Sharkey said America's steel industry "has a chance to adjust, consolidate and thrive" - if the 201 rule is enforced.