Trade Cases
Section 232 Briefing Discusses Voluntary Agreements
Written by Sandy Williams
July 30, 2017
At a Section 232 briefing to the Ways & Means Committee on Thursday, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross acknowledged the complexity of initiating broad trade action against imports of steel and aluminum.
A “voluntary” agreement to address steel overcapacity was suggested that would allow countries to negotiate a solution to overcapacity and the resulting import surges.
“He said that the current forms that we have, the WTO and the global steel forums, have not been adequate in addressing this issue and that he is hoping for some way to negotiate in a dialogue with these countries,” Rep. Sandy Chu (D-CA) told reporters after the briefing. “I think they’re still proceeding with the 232, but I think they know that negotiation would be a better way, though.”
No timeline was given for the release of the Section 232 reports. Although a swift review and action was anticipated, Commerce has until Jan. 14, 2018, to present results of the steel investigation to the president, and until Jan. 22 to present the aluminum report.
The president told The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday that the administration is not ready to take action “at this moment” on steel imports. “We’re waiting till we get everything finished up between health care and taxes and maybe even infrastructure,” said Trump.
Ross said he will defer to Trump on when the reports and recommendations will be presented.
Opponents of Section 232 welcomed the delay, saying it is evidence that their concerns have been heard. “Our collective efforts are obviously having an impact as there continues to be a delay in the announcement,” said AIIS President Richard Chriss in a note to members on Wednesday.
Comments by steel executives this week during earnings calls show the industry is prepared to wait for what it believes will be strong and decisive action. In the meantime, steel mills are girding up to offer customers higher value products in order to beat competition from foreign sources.
“We do believe a remedy is coming. There are a lot of other issues rattling around right now that the administration is dealing with, and I think being thoughtful about this is really important, but we do believe that we are going to go broad and go deep,” said U.S. Steel CEO David Burritt during his company’s earnings conference call.
Sandy Williams
Read more from Sandy WilliamsLatest in Trade Cases
Nippon respects HR dumping decision, expects lower rate in next review
Nippon Steel says it respects the US Department of Commerce’s findings in administrative reviews despite the agency recently assigning the Japanese steelmaker a higher dumping margin.
CRU: Trump tariffs could stimulate steel demand
Now that the dust has settled from the US election, as have the immediate reactions in the equity, bond, and commodity markets, this is a prime opportunity to look at how a second Trump presidency might affect the US steel market.
Rebar import duties to continue for 5 more years
Import duties on rebar from a handful of countries will continue to be collected for at least another five years.
Leibowitz: Trump 2.0 signals Cold War 2.0 trade and China policies
China is one of the elephants in the room as the transition to Trump 2.0 continues. While the people and policies are still being formulated, it’s possible to detect a strategy for the new Trump administration. I think there are two imperative issues that the new administration needs to balance. The Trump strategy will, I believe, follow the following points. First, trade is one of the issues that got President Trump elected in 2016 and 2024—it nearly got him elected in 2020, save for the pandemic. If President Trump had won in 2020, I might be writing chronicles about the end of his eight years in the White House now instead of projecting what the next Trump administration would accomplish or break. Oh, well—that’s life. Trade will necessarily be a key feature of relations with China for the next four years.
Commerce says Nippon dumped steel in US in 2022-23
Commerce determined a significant dumping margin for hot-rolled steel imports from Japan's Nippon Steel.