OREANDA-NEWS. April 10, 2014. United States Steel Corporation (NYSE: X) Senior Vice President – Flat Roll Operations Douglas Matthews echoed President and Chief Executive Officer Mario Longhi's congressional testimony from earlier this week, as he spoke at the University of Michigan's Shale Gas: A Game Changer for American Manufacturing.

While participating in a panel discussion regarding American competitiveness in energy intensive manufacturing at the National Press Club, Matthews pointed out that U. S. Steel has been unable to take full advantage of the opportunities presented by shale resource development "...due to ongoing high levels of what we believe are unfairly traded tubular products." 

By way of example, Matthews explained that U. S. Steel employs more than 24,000 employees domestically and is the nation's largest producer of tubular products headquartered in the United States.  In recent years the company has made significant investments to specifically address the needs of the energy industry.  Since 2010 the company has invested USD200 million into its Lorain Tubular Operations outside of Cleveland, and is well positioned to serve customers in the Marcellus and Utica shales.  Additionally, U. S. Steel launched a joint venture in early 2013 in the Permian Basin in western Texas.  The company has also focused on developing innovative value-added products and services. 

"We cannot compete against foreign governments that employ unfair, market-distorting practices," said Matthews when discussing the domestic steel industry's focus on enhancing competitiveness in the tubular goods market.  He went on to state that "the U.S. steel industry has only insisted on one thing — a level playing field created through the maintenance and enforcement of existing trade laws that make all trade truly free and fair."

Matthews called on official Washington to remain vigilant in this issue, assuring attendees that "we can move toward a new era in which success in the steel industry will be driven solely by hard work and innovation, both of which are on display every day at facilities across United States Steel Corporation."