Cleveland-Cliffs to shut down Weirton tinplate plant

Craig Howell/Weirton Daily Times
U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., right, speaks with Cleveland-Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves during a visit to the Weirton tinplate facility in September 2023. Cleveland-Cliffs announced Thursday it would be idling indefinitely the Weirton facility following a recent tariff ruling by the International Trade Commission.
Cleveland-Cliffs to shut down Weirton tinplate plant
WEIRTON, W. Va. – After 115 years, the final manufacturing component of what once was Weirton Steel Corp. will be idled.
Cleveland-Cliffs, the current owner of the tinplate operation remaining in Weirton, announced Thursday morning its plans to idle “indefinitely” the tinplate production plant in April. Company officials have pointed to the recent decision by the U.S. International Trade Commission, denying the company’s petition for trade duties on imported tin products as a reason for the closure.
“We worked very closely with our partners at the USW on this solution to save Weirton, and together fought tirelessly for its survival. In what was our final effort to maintain tinplate production here in America, we proved that we are forced to operate on an uneven playing field, and that the deck was stacked in favor of the importers,” Lourenco Goncalves, the company’s chairman, president and chief executive officer, said in a release Thursday morning. “Despite the Department of Commerce finding evidence of dumping and subsidization from respondent countries, the ITC shockingly ruled against imposition of tariffs, keeping the uneven playing field in place and making it impossible for us to viably produce tinplate. We have been up front and open with union leadership throughout this process and our partnership with the USW remains unbreakable.”
A notice to affected employees, under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act of 1988, was issued by the company Thursday. Cleveland-Cliffs Weirton has employed approximately 900 workers in recent years, though about 300 of those had been laid off last summer. Those affected will be offered relocation opportunities, or severance packages, noted company officials.
In January 2023, Cleveland Cliffs and the USW jointly filed an anti-dumping and countervailing duty trade case alleging a surge of imported tin product had materially injured the company and its employees. In a ruling Jan. 5, the U.S. Department of Commerce determined imported products from four of the original eight petitioned countries were being sold in the U.S. at less than fair value. That decision was overruled, though, by a 4-0 vote by the ITC earlier this month, saying the domestic tin industry was “not materially injured or threatened with material injury by reason of imports” from Canada, China and Germany. An investigation concerning imports from South Korea was terminated by the ITC.
“American workers can compete with anyone on a level playing field, but the ITC’s recent negative determination continues to leave our markets vulnerable to foreign dumping. The current tin mill market has already been decimated by over 50% penetration of illegally dumped foreign tinplate product,” said USW International President Dave McCall. “Now, with the idling of tinplate production in Weirton, unfair trade is one step closer to choking out our domestic industry entirely. It should be obvious, the goal of foreign suppliers is that once our domestic supply chain has been destroyed, the American consumers of tin mill products will be at the mercy of the foreign producers and their cheap and dumped products will no longer be available at ‘cheap’ prices.”
Weirton Mayor Harold “Bubba” Miller said he “was taken by surprise” by the announcement, noting he began receiving phone calls Wednesday night.
“This is a real setback,” Miller said. “There are going to be a lot of families on the short end of the stick.”
The mayor pointed to growth in the local economy in recent years, such as the opening of Pietro Fiorentini, Bidell Gas Compression, and Fanti USA, as well as ongoing construction of Form Energy’s new facility, along with new restaurants and retail businesses, saying the Cleveland-Cliffs closure may have a cooling effect on the area.
“I think the impact on the community is yet to be seen,” he said.
Craig Howell, managing editor at the Weirton Daily Times, can be reached at chowell@weirtondailytimes.com.