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U.S. Motor Vehicle Industry: Federal Financial Assistance and Restructuring [January 30, 2009]
"This report focuses on the current situation faced by the Detroit 3, key aspects of their current crisis, including possible consequences of a failure of one or more companies, and some aspects of legislative actions that have been considered to bridge their financial conditions to a more stable situation. The subjects covered are: The impact of the automotive industry on the broader U.S. economy and of potential failure of the Detroit 3 companies; (2) Financial issues, including the present conditions affecting credit for automotive consumers and dealers, and legal and financial aspects of government-offered loans to the industry; (3) The current situation in the U.S. automotive market, including efforts in 2007 by the Detroit 3 and the United Auto Workers union (UAW) to address problems of long-term competitiveness; (4) Issues related to government assistance, and various forms of bankruptcy, should this assistance fail to lead to longer term recovery; (5) Legacy issues, specifically pension and health care responsibilities of the Detroit 3; and (6) Stipulations that have been imposed on auto manufacturers as conditions of assisting in their restructuring. Before reviewing these aspects of the situation and specific policy questions, the report will summarize the developments of December 2008. During the month, Congress considered aiding the Detroit 3, but was unable to agree on a plan to assist the companies. Deciding it was necessary to avoid a 'disorderly collapse' of the Detroit 3, President Bush announced on December 18, 2008, a plan to aid the two companies closest to immediate bankruptcy, GM [General Motors] and Chrysler, using TARP [Troubled Assets Relief Program] funds already appropriated by Congress."
Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service
Cooney, Stephen; Bickley, James M.; Chaikind, H. R. . . .
2009-01-30
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U.S. Motor Vehicle Industry: Federal Financial Assistance and Restructuring [December 3, 2008]
"This report reviews the U.S. automotive industry at present, aspects of the industry's financial situation, and relief options. It includes an analysis of the current situation in the U.S. automotive market, including efforts to address problems of long-term competitiveness and the impact of the industry on the broader U.S. economy. It focuses on financial issues, including credit questions, and legal and financial aspects of government-offered loans or loan guarantees. This further includes consideration of legacy issues, specifically pension and health care responsibilities of the Detroit 3. It also reviews potential solutions to the financial crisis, including options of government receivership and participation management, and various forms of bankruptcy. Finally, the report reviews stipulations that Congress might impose on auto manufacturers as conditions of providing assistance."
Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service
Shorter, Gary W.; Rapaport, Carol; Purcell, Patrick J. . . .
2008-12-03
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Proposed U.S.-South Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA): Provisions and Implications [October 17, 2008]
"On June 30, 2007, U.S. and South Korean trade officials signed the proposed U.S.-South Korean Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA) for their respective countries. If approved, the KORUS FTA would be the largest FTA that South Korea has signed to date and would be the second largest (next to North American Free Trade Agreement, NAFTA) in which the United States participates. South Korea is the seventh-largest trading partner of the United States and the United States is South Korea's third largest trading partner. Various studies conclude that the agreement would increase bilateral trade and investment flows. The final text of the proposed KORUS FTA covers a wide range of trade and investment issues and, therefore, could have wide economic implications for both the United States and South Korea. The KORUS FTA includes issues on which the two countries achieved early agreement, such as the elimination on tariffs on trade in most manufactured goods and the partial liberalization in services trade. The agreement also includes provisions on a number of very sensitive issues, such as autos, agriculture, and trade remedies, on which agreement was reached only during the final hours of negotiations."
Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service
Cooper, William H., 1949-; Manyin, Mark E.; Jones, Vivian Catherine . . .
2008-10-17
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Proposed U.S.-South Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA): Provisions and Implications [January 22, 2008]
"On June 30, 2007, United States Trade Representative Susan Schwab and South Korean Foreign Trade Minister Kim Hyung-chong signed the proposed U.S.-South Korean Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA) for their respective countries. If approved, the KORUS FTA would be the largest FTA that South Korea has signed to date and would be the second largest (next to North American Free Trade Agreement NAFTA) in which the United States participates. South Korea is the seventh-largest trading partner of the United States and the United States is South Korea's third largest trading partner. Various studies conclude that the agreement would increase bilateral trade and investment flows. The final text of the proposed KORUS FTA covers a wide range of trade and investment issues and, therefore, could have wide economic implications for both the United States and South Korea. The KORUS FTA includes issues on which the two countries achieved early agreement, such as the elimination on tariffs on trade in most manufactured goods and the partial liberalization in services trade. The agreement also includes provisions on a number of very sensitive issues, such as autos, agriculture, and trade remedies, on which agreement was reached only during the final hours of negotiations."
Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service
Cooper, William H., 1949-; Manyin, Mark E.; Jones, Vivian Catherine . . .
2008-01-22
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Steel: Price and Policy Issues [Updated October 31, 2007]
From the Summary: "The rapid growth of steel production and demand in China is widely considered as a major cause of continued high steel prices and prices of steelmaking inputs. Steel companies have achieved much greater pricing power, in part through an ongoing consolidation of the industry. High prices persist, despite the revocation in 2003 of President Bush's broad safeguard order on imports. U.S. steel production in 2006 was 108 million tons. The integrated side of the industry continues to lose share domestically to the minimills. Imports rebounded in 2006 to reach the highest tonnage level ever, though they declined in 2007. Input prices, especially ferrous scrap and iron ore, remain high, meaning higher costs, which have been largely passed along to industrial consumers. China now produces 40% of the world's steel and is the world's largest steelmaker and steel consumer. This contributed to a large global increase in demand for both steel and steelmaking inputs. China has become a large net exporter as well. In 2006, its steel exports to the U.S. market more than doubled, and it became the second-largest import source. […] Internationally, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has abandoned the effort to achieve an international agreement to ban subsidies for steel mills. In April 2006 the World Trade Organization (WTO) Appellate Body ruled against the 'zeroing' methodology used by the U.S. Commerce Department in calculating dumping margins."
Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service
Cooney, Stephen
2007-10-31
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Alaska Natural Gas Pipelines: Interaction of the Natural Gas and Steel Markets [November 2, 2006]
"In 1976 Congress approved legislation to establish the regulatory framework for building a pipeline to bring natural gas from the Alaska North Slope to the lower 48 states (Alaska Natural Gas Transportation Act, 15 U.S.C. § 719 et seq.). Despite the rich deposits of natural gas and the success of the Alaska oil pipeline, the Alaska segment of a gas pipeline has never been started. To encourage its development, Congress passed in 2004 and the President signed into law the Alaska Natural Gas Pipeline Act (Division C of P.L. 108-324), which includes a federal loan guarantee of as much as $18 billion. Since then, the North Slope producers and the state of Alaska have been in extensive negotiations on building a gas pipeline. Under a provision of the 2004 law, as no application for a certificate of public convenience and necessity for the pipeline had been received 18 months after passage of the law, the Department of Energy on April 13, 2006, began a study on alternative approaches to the construction and operation of an Alaska natural gas transportation system. […] The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) estimates that 3 to 5 million tons of steel could be required, but states that sufficient capacity can be readily developed in North America for manufacturing the necessary steel pipe. P.L. 108-324 contains a 'sense of Congress' resolution that North American steel should be used in the project. ExxonMobil Corporation, one of the three developers of Alaska North Slope oil and gas, has, however, announced an agreement with two Japanese companies to commercialize a new type of highstrength steel that could reduce Alaska pipeline costs."
Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service
Cooney, Stephen; Pirog, Robert L.
2006-11-02
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Steel: Price and Policy Issues [Updated August 31, 2006]
From the Summary: "Steel prices remain at historically elevated levels. The rapid growth of steel production and demand in China is widely considered as a major cause of the increases in both steel prices and the prices of steelmaking inputs. Steel companies have achieved much greater pricing power, in part through an ongoing consolidation of the industry. Most of the integrated side of the industry, nearly half of U.S. production, is controlled by just two companies: U.S. Steel, the traditional industry leader, and Mittal Steel, itself the result of multiple international mergers. […] Some policy developments in 2005-06 may affect domestic steel producers. [...] In December 2005 the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) terminated an antidumping case brought by domestic steel companies against steel wire rod imports, and President Bush decided in a safeguard case not to provide relief for domestic producers of steel pipe against imports from China. [...] In April 2006 the World Trade Organization (WTO) Appellate Body ruled against the 'zeroing' methodology used by the U.S. Commerce Department in calculating dumping margins. In the 109th Congress, 2nd Session, H.R. 5043 and H.R. 5529 were introduced, which would establish some changes sought by the steel industry in U.S. trade law, as well as a commission to review WTO decisions adverse to U.S. interests. This report will be updated as warranted by developments."
Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service
Cooney, Stephen
2006-08-31
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China's Impact on the U.S. Automotive Industry [April 4, 2006]
"China is both the fastest growing motor vehicle market and the fastest growing vehicle producer. Output and sales have grown from less than two million vehicles annually before 2000 to nearly six million vehicles in 2005. In the number of vehicles that it manufactures China has passed Korea and France, is on pace to overtake Germany, and would then trail only the United States and Japan. A disproportionate share of China's output has always been heavy vehicles, but since 2000, China's growth has been led by the increase in passenger cars. They now account for about half of China's production. […] Congress has been concerned with broad policies giving Chinese exporters unfair trade advantages. The Senate approved a bill, added as an amendment to other legislation, that would place a high tariff on Chinese imports unless China revalues its pegged exchange rate (S. 295). Further action has been postponed on this measure. Legislation to allow U.S. producers to bring countervailing duty cases against Chinese firms subsidized by their government has been approved in the House (H.R. 3283), and a new law has tightened rules against trade in counterfeited goods (P.L. 109-181). This report will not be updated."
Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service
Cooney, Stephen
2006-04-04
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Steel: Legislative and Oversight Issues [Updated April 2, 2003]
"The U.S. steel industry has faced increasing difficulties since the late 1990s. More than 30 U.S. steel producers have gone into bankruptcy and many workers have lost their jobs. Many retirees have lost company-funded health care benefits, while their pensions are being taken over by the federally chartered Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. The condition of the industry is discussed in detail in CRS [Congressional Research Service] Report RL31748, The American Steel Industry: A Changing Profile. U.S. policymakers responded with a variety of measures. The House of Representatives in 1999 approved a bill that would have required the President to roll back imports. The Clinton Administration reacted with expedited enforcement of U.S. antidumping and countervailing duty (AD/CVD) laws, as well as Section 201 import safeguard measures on wire rod and line pipe products, which expired as of March 1, 2003. The 106th Congress approved and President Clinton signed a law to establish a steel loan guarantee program (P .L. 106-51), and to distribute to petitioners duties collected from AD/CVD cases, (known as the Byrd Amendment to the Agriculture appropriations bill, P.L. 106-387). These measures did not prevent a new downturn in the domestic steel industry. Moreover, the World Trade Organization (WTO) has found that the Byrd Amendment violates its rules. The Bush Administration in its FY2004 budget request proposed elimination of both programs, butbothcontinuetooperate. On March 26, 2003, the Emergency Steel Loan Board approved a $250 million loan guarantee for Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corporation."
Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service
Cooney, Stephen
2003-04-02
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