Legislation will increase penalties for ‘dumping’

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Thom Tillis, R-North Carolina, introduced the bipartisan Fighting Trade Cheats Act, which would strengthen U.S. trade law enforcement and give American manufacturers the opportunity to take action against bad actors that engage in customs fraud. 

The bill takes aim at companies that dump foreign-made goods into the United States.

“Ohioans know all too well how foreign competitors cheat the rules to steal American jobs,” Brown said. “This is an ongoing battle – one I’m going to continue to fight for Ohio workers and Ohio companies. Our bipartisan plan will update and strengthen trade remedy laws and allow American manufacturers to use their own resources to fight back against bad actors.”

Brown’s office said he has long fought to give Ohio companies stronger tools against foreign companies and countries that evade U.S. trade laws, hurting Ohio manufacturers and putting Ohioans out of work, and that his Leveling the Playing Field Act led to key wins for Ohio companies. 

Brown said this new, bipartisan legislation would allow private companies to sue foreign producers that harm American companies, and, by allowing private companies harmed by trade cheats to use their own resources to fight back, the bill would help address customs fraud and protect American workers and American jobs.

American businesses, including McWane Incorporated, a company with a large Ohio facility that manufactures pipes, valves, fire hydrants and fittings used in the nation’s infrastructure, and Charlotte Pipe and Foundry, a family-owned North Carolina company that manufactures cast iron, PVC, CPVC and ABS pipe and fittings, support the bipartisan legislation.

 “Trade cheaters cost American jobs, plain and simple. This bill will give Customs and Border Protection and businesses the tools they need to stop lawless foreign importers from evading U.S. laws and destroying American industries and communities,” James Proctor II, senior vice president and general counsel for McWane. “We thank Senators Brown and Tillis for standing up for American workers and businesses and helping put a stop to such illegal activity.”

The United Steelworkers also endorse this legislation.