Reuters | By Randall Mikkelsen | Dec. 2, 2003
PITTSBURGH (Reuters) - President Bush picked up $850,000 in campaign contributions in America's steel industry heartland on Tuesday even as he prepared to lift tariffs that have been helping steelmakers.
Supporters of the tariffs lodged a last-ditch effort to keep the protections in place. Bush heard arguments from Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Arlen Specter and U.S. Steel Corp. Chairman Tom Usher, a sponsor of the fund-raiser, which the Bush re-election campaign said had been planned long before the steel decision became imminent.
Scores of steelworkers demonstrated near the site of Bush's Pittsburgh event.
Administration officials said they still expected Bush to announce a decision this week, possibly on Thursday, to lift the tariffs, in place since March 2002 and ruled illegal by the World Trade Organization. If he does not, the European Union has vowed to retaliate on $2.2 billion worth of U.S. exports.
But Bush made no public mention of the issue during his visit to Pittsburgh, known as the "Steel City" for its years as an industrial powerhouse, but which has lost hundreds of thousands of jobs over the years the industry has contracted.
"The American economy is strong, and it is getting stronger," Bush said.
The White House said Bush was still undecided and was still listening to arguments.
The decision could have major implications for Bush's re-election campaign in steel producing and consuming states. Pennsylvania, which Bush lost to Democrat Al Gore in 2000, has 21 of the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency and has been a major focus of Bush's re-election strategy.
PROTESTERS BRAVE CHILLY AIR
Outside, protesters shouted "Don't cave in," and one carried a sign warning of the political stakes. "Betray us now, lose in 2004," one sign read.
"We simply want him (Bush) to stand up for American workers," Leo Gerard, president of the United Steelworkers of America, said.
Tariff supporters were also inside the fund-raising event. Usher met privately with Bush to urge him to keep the tariffs in place for the three years he originally planned.
"President Bush said he understood our position, that it was a difficult and complex issue and he has not yet made a decision," John Armstrong, a spokesman for U.S. Steel, said. "Tom Usher remains hopeful that the president will keep his commitments to the steel industry."
Specter said he would discuss with Bush "a whole series of strong reasons" why the steel tariffs should stay.
Pennsylvania's other Republican senator, Rick Santorum, told reporters he expected Bush to lift some of the tariffs, but not all of them "across the board."
The duties, of up to 24 percent, are spread over 10 different steel product categories.
Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, a Democrat, released a Nov. 12 letter to Bush urging him to keep the tariffs. He said since 2001, Pennsylvania alone has lost almost 3,000 manufacturing jobs "as a result of unfair trade practices."
AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, leader of America's largest labor group, urged Bush in letter not to terminate the duties.
But steel importers and consumers also kept up pressure to end tariffs they say have cost more jobs than they have saved.
Ending the tariffs 16 months ahead of schedule could also spark a political backlash against Bush in the steel-producing states of Ohio and West Virginia. (additional reporting by Doug Palmer in Washington and Michael Erman in New York)Reuters:
