WASHINGTON –
U.S. Senator Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD) today praised the U.S. Department of Commerce (DoC) for imposing tariffs against foreign paper manufacturers who have been unfairly dumping coated paper products on the U.S. market. The DoC action targets China and Indonesia, which has been dumping certain coated paper in the United States.  
 

 

NewPage Corp. of Luke, MD has been affected by these unfair trading practices. In October, 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. 

 

“American companies like NewPage depend on a level playing field when it comes to international trading practices,”
said Senator Cardin. “Our global economy depends on free and fair trade and that is why it’s important that we move aggressively to counter any threat to our economy or our workers who may be harmed from clearly unfair trading practices.

 

“NewPage is a major employer in Garrett and Allegany counties and I commend the Department of Commerce for taking decisive action to halt practices that place American workers at an unfair advantage.”

 

Last month, Senator Cardin joined 14 Senate colleagues in urging the DoC to launch an investigation into complaints from numerous U.S. manufacturers that China subsidizes its exports through currency manipulations that force U.S. companies to compete with subsidized Chinese imports. The DoC has not yet responded to the currency undervaluation allegations.

 

NewPage Corp. employs nearly 1,000 workers at its Luke, MD plant.