Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
July 27, 2015
I knew the cold rolled trade suits were coming this week. It had been rumored for a couple of months just as the hot rolled trade suits are being discussed for August. It doesn’t make the day of the filing (or night and day if you received one of the USS emails last night) go by any easier. It has been one hectic day.
We have a number of articles in tonight’s newsletter dedicated to the trade suits, an analysis of cold rolled imports from the eight countries hit by the antidumping petition filed by the domestic mills as well as comments from AK Steel which released their earnings this morning.
We have also been working on a number of other articles that I did not want to get lost in tonight’s issue. Some of you may have read the AMM coverage of the CORE (when you see CORE it is about the corrosion resistant trade suit) and the filing of Critical Circumstances against the 5 countries hit by that antidumping and countervailing duty petition. This is a major issue that could have a huge impact on trading companies who traded in goods from China, Taiwan, India, South Korea and Italy.
I traded emails over the day today with attorney Lewis E. Leibowitz (who will be one of our speakers at our 5th Steel Summit Conference) about critical circumstances and some of the unusual timing of this particular filing.
I have a copy of the filing (63 pages long) and I want to review it so we can write a more detailed article on the subject. We will do that for Thursday evening’s newsletter. Those of you buying coated products (specifically galvanized and Galvalume) and having exposure to foreign steel may want to mark your calendars.
The other thing I have been working on is getting a different viewpoint than what the domestic mills have been laying out there. I have comments from both service centers and end users who are not happy about the move against foreign steel because it could potentially create a non-competitive price environment here in the United States and force manufacturing back overseas, just when there was some light shining on the concept of re-shoring manufacturing.
I will be curious to see how Steel Summit keynote speaker, Dan DiMicco tackles the subject of making things in America and being world competitive with our manufactured products. I just gave everyone a couple of great reasons to attend our conference… Registration details are on our website: www.SteelMarketUpdate.com and we have put the companies that are already registered in alphabetical order on the website to make it easier to find your company name (or imagine where it will be once you register)…
One more note: One of our attendees who is coming from Chicago showed us their receipt for airfare to Atlanta which they booked on Southwest Airlines today. The total fare was $88 (roundtrip)…
Hotel rooms are booking up. We have a limited room block that we expect will be depleted within the next week or so. Atlanta Marriott Gateway Hotel and the SMU rate (subject to the room block being available) is $139 per night. The normal rate is $239 per night. Click here for hotel reservations.
As always your business is truly appreciated by all of us here at Steel Market Update.
John Packard, Pubilsher
John Packard
Read more from John PackardLatest in Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
From one group of folks, I’ve heard that Trump might not wait until Feb. 1 – the date he threatened on to place tariffs on China, Canada, and Mexico. They say he could act as soon as Friday. And then there are those who don’t think anything will happen before April 1. That’s the deadline for Commerce, Treasury, and USTR to submit key reports on “America First Trade Policy” to President Trump.
Final Thoughts
Trump made a clarification in a speech on Monday. Previously, he had declared the word “tariff” the most beautiful word in the dictionary. No longer.
Final Thoughts
President Donald Trump on Sunday hammered Colombia with 25% tariffs and threatened to increase them to 50%. Trump in a post on Truth Social said he took the action not because of a trade dispute but because the South American nation had refused to accept planes carrying deported immigrants. The president also cited "national security" concerns, just as he did to justify 25% Section 232 tariffs on steel in his first term. Even the 50% threat echoes his first term. Turkish steel, like that of most nations, was assessed a 25% tariff in March 2018. Trump doubled Turkey's tariff to 50% via a tweet in August of that year over a matter unrelated to steel.
Final Thoughts
We surveyed many of you this week and asked what you wanted to see from the new Trump administration. Responses were varied but fell largely into three groups: tariffs and trade policy, the Nippon-U.S. Steel deal, and those who are concerned about too much government sway in steel. Some also expressed hope that President Trump would continue the infrastructure spending that began under former President Biden.
Final Thoughts
Sometimes new presidential administrations hit the ground running. No time for change like the present. And sometimes new administrations blast off on a SpaceX rocket bound for Mars. There’s a big universe, and we’ve got a lot of flags to plant. Such seems to be the case with the new Trump administration.