This article attempts to clarify the intermestic political process of the OECD Steel Committee. In 1977, the OECD Council established an Ad Hoc Working Group on the Steel Industry to promote closer co-operation between governments in achieving a better understanding of the industry's critical problems and in developing policies to resolve them. The recommendation of this group was to create the Steel Committee.
According to the Annex of the Council's Decision to establish the Committee (October 1978), the world's steel industry is experiencing serious difficulties of a cyclical and structural nature. These difficulties are characterised by (1) persistent excess capacity, (2) an exceptionally low level of demand, (3) unjustifiably low prices on world markets, (4) marked changes in traditional trade patterns, (5) major dislocations of labor, frequently in areas already experiencing high unemployment, (6) depressed financial performance among producers, which holds down investments needed for modernisation and rationalisation of plants, (7) increasing governmental intervention in supply and demand, especially with foreign trade.
The major function of the Steel Committee can be summarised as to (1) develop common perspectives regarding emerging problems or concerns in the steel sector and establish, where appropriate, multilateral objectives or guidelines for government policies, (2) regularly review and assess government policies and actions in the steel sector in the light of the current situation, agreed multilateral objectives and guidelines and the GATT and other relevant international agreement. This essay explores the political dynamics among the major actors within the Steel Committee, the United States, the European Community and Japan.
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