WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD) today praised the U.S. International Trade Commission’s (USITC) ruling that the U.S. paper industry has been harmed by the unfair dumping of coated paper products on the U.S. market.  The USITC ruling, which was a 6-0 vote, means that the U.S. Department of Commerce (DoC) will issue antidumping and countervailing duty orders on imports of these products from China and Indonesia

“This ruling by the International Trade Commission is a victory because it means that we can now take action to assure fair trade.   The ITC ruling shows that these unfair trading practices that have hurt American workers and harmed the U.S. paper industry, including NewPage Corp.,” said Senator Cardin.   “International trade depends on a level playing field and this ruling means we can now move aggressively to stop China and Indonesia and to counter any threat to our economy or our workers who may be harmed from clearly unfair trading practices.”

NewPage Corp. of Luke, MD has been seriously affected by these unfair trading practices.  In 2009, Senator Cardin sent a letter the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) in support of the company’s petition to investigate unfair dumping by the Chinese and Indonesians. 

Earlier this year, Senator Cardin joined other senators to urge the Department of Commerce to investigate China’s currency manipulation.   In March, Senator Cardin joined 14 other senators in proposing legislation to address currency misalignments that unfairly and negatively impact U.S. trade.   The legislation would impose stiff new penalties on designated countries, including tariffs on the countries’ exports and a ban on any companies from those countries receiving U.S. government contracts.  

NewPage is a major employer in Garrett and Allegany counties. The company employs nearly 1,000 workers at its Luke, MD plant.