Testifying on behalf of Maine’s workers, paper mills

By U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud
(D-Maine)
    In 2008, China surpassed the U.S. and became the new leading global producer of paper and paper products; all because of the subsidies they supply their companies. This unfair trade advantage has come at a great cost to our own industry, and we must respond accordingly.
    On September 16th, I was joined by our congressional delegation to testify before the International Trade Commission (ITC) on the petition that was filed by U.S. paper manufacturers and their workers against Chinese and Indonesian subsidized imports. For months, I have been working with Sappi Fine and NewPage, which have mills and many workers in Maine and are petitioners in this case. The goal of the petition is to press the U.S. Department of Commerce and the ITC to assess tariffs on Chinese and Indonesian paper imports in order to offset their rate of state subsidization.
    Preliminary decisions reached this spring found in favor of the domestic manufacturers and their workers. But a positive outcome requires both the Department of Commerce and the ITC to make final, affirmative determinations in their favor. The final decision by the Department of Commerce is expected very soon, while the ITC decision is expected on October 19th.
    I have been leading the charge on this issue in Congress because it has a direct and significant impact on jobs in Maine. Take, for example, the situation at NewPage in Rumford that was described in a recent Lewiston Sun Journal article. It detailed how approximately 100 employees of NewPage were laid off from their mill jobs late last year because of an influx of cheap goods from Indonesia and China. Since the tariff was temporarily placed on such goods, all 100 have been called back.
    This is just one local example of the impact that a final ruling from the ITC can have nationwide on jobs. And it demonstrates the very real effects of trade and why our country must strictly enforce trade laws and pass new ones that truly level the international playing field.
    During my testimony before the ITC, I highlighted these real world effects of trade on Maine and shared with them my personal experience in the paper industry.
    Having worked in a paper mill in East Millinocket for nearly thirty years, I watched my hometown decline when the paper mill shut down the same year I was sworn into office. I told them about how when the mill shut down, the town didn’t know if it would have enough money to keep the school running. The senior class didn’t know if it would be able to graduate, because the mill accounted for about eighty percent of East Millinocket’s tax base.
    All of this goes to show that the economic impacts of these foreign subsidies are real, especially in small communities like East Millinocket, which faced over a thirty-two percent unemployment rate after the mill closed. And while the good people of the Katahdin Region are as hard-working and as resilient as ever, no company, no matter how dedicated the workers are, can compete against massively subsidized imports or unfair trade rules. A level playing field will give us a fair shake and allow U.S. companies to grow and create jobs.
    Democrats and Republicans, Representatives, Senators and Governors all went to the ITC hearing to press the case for our workers and businesses. And while I am pleased that the preliminary decisions in this case have indicated that there has been material injury to the U.S. coated paper industry, anything short of a final, affirmative decision is unacceptable.