Trade Cases

EU Fearful of Impact from U.S. Steel Tariffs
Written by Tim Triplett
April 14, 2018
The European Union is concerned that the 25 percent tariffs on steel imports announced by President Trump in March could lead China and other countries to more aggressively sell steel in Europe. EU officials have launched an investigation to determine how the U.S. tariffs will affect the European market and whether they need to respond with trade action of their own.
“The information currently available to the European Commission … has revealed that imports of certain steel products have recently increased sharply, showing that there is sufficient evidence that these trends in imports appear to call for safeguards measures,” stated EU officials.
While the investigation was prompted by multiple factors contributing to “a negative impact on the market shares of Union producers,” the EU announcement specifically noted the impact of “recent developments, such as any trade diversion resulting from the U.S. measures.”

Tim Triplett
Read more from Tim TriplettLatest in Trade Cases

Price on Trade: The tariff carousel becomes the tariff rollercoaster
The administration’s trade rollercoaster is moving at record speeds, running along the rails of innovation and expansion. But it can be confusing and difficult to keep up with. US manufacturers that follow these developments closely could benefit from the ride. Companies that miss new updates, or fail to accurately interpret their duty liability, could be left feeling queasy. Some rollercoasters are not for the faint of heart, and this one is a bit like Space Mountain. We are all riding without much ability to see the next turn or drop.

Ten OCTG importers found guilty of duty evasion
Ten US importers are on the hook to pay two years’ worth of anti-dumping and countervailing duties that US Customs says they had tried to illegally evade.

Canada, Mexico get 30-day delay on blanket tariffs (again)
The latest on the trade war

Mexico launches HR steel dumping probe at Ternium’s request
Mexico has launched an anti-dumping investigation into imports of hot-rolled steel from China and Vietnam.

Trump vows tariffs and reciprocal levies in speech to Congress
April 2 is when reciprocal tariffs are expected to kick in.