Leibowitz on Trade: Mercatus Report on Steel Exclusions Process Finds Worrisome Trends

Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington:

Companies have filed thousands of requests seeking exclusions from the Trump administration’s Section 232 tariffs on steel imports, claiming the products they require are not available from domestic sources in the quantities or qualities required. The steel product exclusion process has come under increased scrutiny revealing noteworthy inconsistencies in Commerce’s decision-making and procedures. The Mercatus Center at George Mason University in Virginia has studied the steel exclusion process and decisions through exhaustive analysis. They have calculated the amount of steel products that large domestic producers have claimed the ability to produce. In one instance, with respect to Nucor, George Mason determined that the company objected to exclusion requests totaling 41.31 million metric tons, but that their annual production amounted to a bit more than 24 million metric tons. AK Steel objected to requests for over 30 million metric tons, but only produces about 6 million. Yet only 1 percent of exclusion requests receiving objections are approved by Commerce.