WASHINGTON (PAI)—Ignoring bipartisan protests from three senators and legislative lobbying by the Steelworkers, Trump administration Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross delayed a decision on whether imports of subsidized foreign steel – which cost U.S. steel workers’ jobs – can be curtailed on national security grounds.

And every day he stalls, the senators warn, foreign nations increase their steel coming into the U.S., getting it in under the wire before the administration lowers the boom. Since April, when the president called for the initiation of an investigation on the impact of imports of steel on our national security interests, imports have surged almost 21 percent. And in the meantime, more U.S. workers have lost jobs. 

The Steelworkers, who have pushed the issue for most of the year, aren’t happy either. “The time to act is now, and workers are telling politicians their first-hand stories of the devastation in the industry and the critical importance of providing relief,” said United Steelworkers President Leo Gerard as his union sent members from eight steel states to Capitol Hill. 

And, to reinforce the point, ArcelorMittal said on Sept. 27 it would idle its plant in Consohocken, Pa., and its 200-plus unionists. “Our soldiers deployed in harm’s way depend on products made in this facility in building Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected vehicles, Bradley land systems and all Navy Seapower systems. This steel closure is on the administration’s watch.  At what point will they conclude their investigation and act?” Gerard asked.

Overall, U.S. steel imports rose 25 percent in the first six months of this year, compared to the first six months of 2016. Michigan has a significant presence in the steel industry, with, among others, the U.S. Steel plant in Ecorse, AK Steel in Dearborn, and the Tilden Mine in the Upper Peninsula providing raw materials.

Ross announced the delay in interviews with Bloomberg News and CNBC on Sept. 22, barely a week after Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Rob Portman, R-Ohio, representing a leading steel production state, urged him to move on the import issue.

The Steelworkers and the industry asked the Trump administration early this year to investigate whether the imports are a threat to national security, because they force U.S. steel plants to close, throw Steelworkers out of jobs and ultimately would make the U.S. military dependent on steel from China – whose overcapacity and subsidies give it half the world’s steel production – and Russia.

And if so, Trump could invoke the little-used Section 232 of U.S. trade law, which allows curbs and tariffs on imports that jeopardize national security. Unlike other sections of trade law, foreign nations can’t appeal Section 232 rulings to the World Trade Organization. In April, Trump told Ross to go ahead with the probe.

To push Ross, Brown and Casey sent their letter. But the Commerce secretary told Bloomberg the Section 232 report and recommendation will be delayed while the administration turns its attention to the tax revision legislation it is trying to draft – a measure that would cut corporate taxes and taxes for the rich. That irked Wyden and the Steelworkers. 

“The administration is creating a crisis for American steel of its own making. By prematurely announcing a poorly defined investigation into foreign steel imports, Commerce invited a flood of new imports looking to get ahead of new tariffs,” Sen. Wyden said. “Now, by delaying a decision, the administration is only amplifying the damage these imports will do to American steelworkers and mills already suffering from a global glut of foreign steel.”