Trade Cases

ITC votes not to impose duties on tin mill product imports

Written by Laura Miller

February 6, 2024

At the final hour, the trade case investigating unfairly traded imports of tin mill products has been terminated.

The US International Trade Commission (ITC) voted on Tuesday, Feb. 6, to terminate the case against South Korea. The agency also voted negatively that the imports from Canada, Germany, and China are injuring the US domestic industry.

The ITC’s final vote means the trade case is ending without the imposition of duties.

The trade case was filed in January 2023 by Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. and the United Steelworkers (USW) union. The petitioners had sought antidumping duties on tin- and chromium-coated sheet steel from Canada, China, Germany, the Netherlands, South Korea, Taiwan, Turkey, and the UK, as well as countervailing duties against China.

The ITC heard final arguments in the case early last month.

The US Commerce Department also made its final decision in January, finding minuscule dumping rates for all countries except China. Commerce had determined the imports from China were dumped and subsidized at rates as high as 122% and 650%, respectively.

However, it is the ITC’s final injury ruling in trade cases that determines whether duties at those rates are imposed. In this case, it ruled that the imports are not harming the domestic industry.

In a statement sent to SMU, Cleveland-Cliffs said it and the USW “clearly demonstrated material injury to the domestic industry” in this case.

“Unfortunately, the International Trade Commission was unpersuaded by our arguments. While we are disappointed by today’s ITC determination, we must respect the ruling of the Commission,” Cliffs said.

The USW did not respond to a request for comment.

Laura Miller

Laura Miller is a reporter and editor for Steel Market Update. She has held a variety of positions within the steel industry since 2007, including reporting and editing for Steel Business Briefing/Platts, the Association for Iron and Steel Technology, and Kallanish Commodities, as well as marketing for what was then known as ThyssenKrupp Steel USA (now AM/NS Calvert). After a five-year hiatus working across other industries, she returned to steel in 2021 and has covered the flat rolled, tubular, and trade areas of the industry. She is a member of the Association of Women in the Metal Industries and a past-president of the AWMI Pittsburgh Chapter. She holds a BA in Latin American Studies from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. She can be reached at laura@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-759-7869.

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