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Today, Congressman Bob Latta (R-Bowling Green) and a group of 12 bipartisan Members of Congress representing Ohio and Michigan sent a letter to Acting Secretary of Commerce, Rebecca Blank, requesting strong enforcement of trade laws in the ongoing anti-dumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) investigations requested by Whirlpool Corporation (Whirlpool).  Whirlpool is based in Benton Harbor, MI, and has its largest U.S. manufacturing facility in Clyde, OH, where the company employs approximately 3,600 people.

Whirlpool, which has more than 22,000 employees in the United States, brought these cases in response to unfair trade practices involving imports of large residential washers from Mexico and South Korea.  Whirlpool’s Clyde plant is the nation’s largest residential washing machine manufacturing facility.

“While Whirlpool is a global company, it has increasingly repatriated production to the United States in recent years.  Today, 80% of what Whirlpool sells in America is manufactured in America.  In contrast, the company’s foreign competitors do not manufacture any of their appliances in the United States,” the Members wrote.  “The Department of Commerce must vigorously enforce the trade laws to ensure that companies like Whirlpool are not punished for bringing jobs home, and future repatriation isn’t discouraged by fear of a lack of a level playing field.”