US producers of steel pipe used in oil and gas drilling on Wednesday filed complaints with American trade officials over alleged unfair competition from Chinese imports, the AP reported. Steel makers have faced sharply lower demand since late last year, just months after surging orders from China and other countries helped drive record profits for many US steel companies. The companies and the United Steelworkers Union are seeking new tariffs on imports of “oil country tubular goods”. According to a statement by the union’s president, the industry making tubular pipe employs about 6,000 workers, and approximately 2,000 of those workers have been laid off. A lawyer representing the US parties said that huge inventories of Chinese imports had stocked up over the past nine months.