United States Steel Corporation senior VP of Flat Roll Operations Mr Douglas Matthews echoed President and CEO Mr 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, Mr Matthews pointed out that US 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.

Mr Matthews said that US 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 USD 200 million into its Lorain Tubular Operations outside of Cleveland, and is well positioned to serve customers in the Marcellus and Utica shales. Additionally, US Steel launched JV in early 2013 in the Permian Basin in western Texas. The company has also focused on developing innovative value added products and services.

He said that "We cannot compete against foreign governments that employ unfair, market distorting practices. The US 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."