OCR Text |
Show Foreign Steel Imports Are Now Becoming Problem for Industry Pittsburg, Pa. More than 1.3 billion dollars worth of foreign-made steel an average of five and one half million dollars doll-ars worth a day has poured into this country during the first eight months of 1968. '"These dollars will never find their way into the pay checks of American steelworkers or help American steel companies stay competitive and create better jobs," according to Edwin Ed-win H. Gott, president, United States Steel Corporation. Expressing his view in the current issue of U S Steel News,, Mr. Gott said that steel imports 'during the first eight months of this year captured an all-time high of more than 15 per cent of the American market. Imports for the first eight months of 1968 have already al-ready exceeded the total of the year 1967. And that was a real year." An equally serious problem for steel people ,Mr. Gott continued, con-tinued, is "the increasing rate at which Americans are buying buy-ing imported products made of steel." He said the auto in dusty steel's biggest customer, is facing "a growing threat from this direction. For example, American sales of one Japanese-made car in the first eight months of 1968 jumped more than 60 per cent over the same period last year." Mr. Gott pointed out that one out of every ten cars sold through August in this country was imported, im-ported, and "it is estimated that more than 900,000 foreign cars will be sold to American buyers before the year ends," he said. He urged U.S. Steel employees "to help prove our sincerity in our campaign against foreign steel imports by spending the dollars we earn on products made by American manufacturers." In a feature article related to steel imports, the News examines the basic forces which have made the United States the world's greatest steel importer. The article cites foreign for-eign excess capacity, cheap labor costs, lower delivery price and foreign protective measures as the four major factors in the steel import problem. Awareness of the steel import im-port problem by U. S. Steel employees has spurred many to "work smarter," according (Continued on page 6) Foreign Steel (Continued from page 1) to the News. Men from U. S. Steel's mines and quarries, the fabriciating plants, and the distribution dis-tribution centers were polled to determine their attitudes toward to-ward "working smarter." Their answers recognized the need for meeting the requirements require-ments of a changing world in solving the industry's problems and a personl involvement to "work smarter" to help tackle the steel import problem. |