Trade Cases

Thailand Secures Pipe Shipment Exemption

Written by Sandy Williams


Thailand was granted a tariff exemption for steel pipe exports to the United States, but only on a shipment basis, said Wanchai Varavithya, deputy director-general of the Commerce Ministry’s Foreign Trade Department.

Said Wanchai, “Although the U.S. Department of Commerce has yet to grant a waiver on import tariffs for all shipments from Thailand, exporters can ask for an exemption for each shipment. This is good news for Thailand.”

Steel from Thailand accounts for only a small percentage of U.S. steel imports, but the country stands to lose 383,496 metric tons of steel pipe, cold-rolled steel and galvanized steel exports as a result of the Section 232 tariffs, according to the Bangkok Post.

Latest in Trade Cases

Price: Should billions in Section 232 revenue go to foreign manufacturers or to the American people?

Do we want the benefits of the Section 232 tariffs to flow to the bottom lines of foreign steel and aluminum producers or to the US government and, ultimately, domestic manufacturers and their workers? In our view, the answer is simple. Section 232 exceptions do nothing more than lead to underserved profits for foreign manufacturers who are harming the US industrial base. That revenue could be used to pursue the Trump administration’s other policy priorities - such as deficit reduction or expanded tax cuts.