“I have long been a proponent of applying our nation’s countervailing duty laws to China. For the past four years, I have introduced a bipartisan, bicameral bill called the “Stopping Overseas Subsidies Act” to ensure that the Department of Commerce treats countervailing duty petitions filed against China the same way as the Department does in cases filed against our other trading partners. I have been concerned for many years by this unequal treatment.

“When machines or mills are shut down, it is, quite simply, devastating. And Maine has lost nearly 600 jobs in the coated free sheet, uncoated free sheet and uncoated groundwood sectors due to machine and mill closures over the last five years. This means the loss not only of the jobs of the paper workers themselves, but also the jobs that are dependent on these primary jobs. For every job directly lost at a paper mill, another 2-3 jobs are indirectly affected, including transportation and service-related jobs.

“With this winning combination, U.S. producers should easily succeed in this market, but instead we have witnessed large market share increases from countries like China that don't even produce their own pulp. There is a reason for that – China cheats. The government of China has targeted its domestic coated paper industry with subsidies that have directly hurt U.S. producers like NewPage. ”

“Given these circumstances, I urge you to consider the record carefully, as I believe you will find that if the violations of international trading rules and practices are not properly addressed, Maine's proud tradition of the pulp and paper industry could ultimately be lost to unfairly advantaged foreign competition.