Republican Sen. Rob Portman and Democrat Sherrod Brown don’t often see eye-to-eye. But one big exception involves Chinese imports.

And the two are leading a group of senators pushing the U.S. Commerce Department to continue antidumping duties of imports of Chinese steel tubes.

For years, U.S. manufacturers argued that the Chinese were subsidizing the production of the tubes. The U.S. imposed anti-dumping tariffs, which China maintains are based on fallacies and amount to trade protectionism.

In Ohio, the duties are seen as key to the expansion of V&M Star in Youngstown, Wheatland Tube in Warren, U.S. Steel and other companies that make pipes that are key to the oil and gas drilling industry.

The letter from Portman, Brown and the other primarily Midwest Senators argues that “thousands of American workers are at risk if important trade protections are watered-down, allowing cheap Chinese products to skirt American customs regulations.”