Trade Cases
No Product Exclusions for Quota Countries
Written by Sandy Williams
June 7, 2018
A new wrinkle has been revealed for those manufacturers seeking exclusions for steel and aluminum products from Brazil, South Korea and Argentina.
The three countries, which have agreed to quotas in lieu of tariffs, are not eligible for any product exemptions. A spokesperson for the Commerce Department confirmed the restriction in an email to Inside U.S. Trade:
“The Presidential Proclamations do not provide authority to grant product exclusions for quota countries. The President retains authority to adjust quotas as needed.”
If a company requires a certain product from a quota-designated country for its manufacturing process and that product has already reached its export limit, it could stall production.
Quotas have already been filled in 40 of the 54 subcategories for steel imports from Argentina and in 18 of the 54 subcategories for Brazil.
Although many analysts agree that allowing exemptions would defeat the quota’s intent, one former USTR official told Inside U.S. Trade that quotas are worse than tariffs for sellers.
“They are more restrictive than the tariffs because they are finite,” the source said. “They are very distorting because the first person to get to the customs window gets in. So, if your friend that exports the same thing gets in behind you, they are out of luck. This results in hoarding behavior, meaning a flood of exporters bringing in products and putting it in warehouses.”
Australia is also exempt from the tariffs, but terms of the deal between Washington and Australian officials are not yet public.
So far, Commerce has not approved or disapproved any of the more than 11,000 steel product exclusion requests it has received.
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.