Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: Asked a Steel Market Update reader: Why are U.S. prices now so far below China’s tariff-adjusted prices? The short answer is that Chinese exports to the U.S. are subject to antidumping and countervailing duties (AD/CVDs) totaling more than […]
Major steel producers in the U.S. had hoped the president wouldn’t blink on the Section 232 tariffs on Canada and Mexico—but he did—in an apparent effort to clear the way for passage of the new North American free trade agreement. Now the mills are supporting the administration’s demand that steel trade in North America be […]
By CRU Principal Analyst Josh Spoores and Analyst Ryan McKinley Steel imports to the U.S. from Canada and Mexico prior to the S232 tariffs were near 12 Mt on an annualized basis. Data from this past March and April show arrivals closer to 7.5 Mt annually. With the end of the S232 on the U.S.’s […]
The Trump administration has cut the U.S. tariffs on steel imports from Turkey in half, trimming them from 50 percent back to 25 percent where they were originally set last August. In a statement on Friday, the White House noted that imports of steel into the U.S. declined by 12 percent overall last year, and […]
The agreement to terminate Section 232 tariffs on Canada and Mexico and all retaliatory tariffs was welcomed by many industry associations. As Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in his announcement remarks on Friday, it was “pure good news.” “On behalf of the membership of the CSPA, we thank the Government of Canada for its significant […]
The U.S. has agreed to lift steel and aluminum tariffs on Mexico and Canada, removing a major roadblock to the ratification of the new North American trade agreement. The Section 232 tariffs, imposing a 25 percent tax on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminum, have been in place just over one year. The tariffs […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: Several notices have been published in the last few days, signaling the new reality of the contentious trade negotiations between the U.S. and China. USTR issued a notice, which has not yet been seen in the Federal Register, […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: The announcements over the last few days have substantially altered the steel and aluminum trade policy priorities of the United States. I am referring, of course, to the following: (1) the U.S. has dropped steel and aluminum tariffs […]
President Trump could decide this week whether to extend the Section 232 tariffs to imports of vehicles and auto parts. May 18 is the deadline for the president to act on the Commerce Department report submitted back in February. As with the steel industry, the administration has argued that a strong automotive industry is essential […]
Opponents of the proposed Section 232 tariffs on imports of autos and auto parts have won at least a temporary reprieve. On Friday, President Trump announced that he will wait six months before reconsidering the tariffs to give the U.S. Trade Representative time to negotiate new agreements on automotive trade with Europe and Japan. In […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: Friday marks a turning point in the “trade war” between China and the United States. A widely expected breakthrough in negotiations was supposed to happen this past week, when the Chinese Vice Premier brought a trade delegation over […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: As President Trump tweeted this past Sunday, the U.S. Trade Representative has issued a notice that List Three of the tariffs on Chinese imports will be subject to 25 percent tariffs effective 12:01 a.m. Eastern time on Friday, […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: President Trump’s Twitter finger twitched on Sunday. He announced via his favorite social media platform that he has grown tired of China’s stalling. He said he will increase the 10 percent tariffs on goods imported from China to […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), the Commerce office handling the 232 steel tariff exclusion requests, recently denied requests from California Steel Industries (CSI), Allegheny Technologies, Inc. (ATI) and Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK). As users of semifinished steel, […]
Canada will keep safeguard tariffs on imports of heavy plate and stainless steel wire—only two products of the original seven provisional safeguards implemented in October. In April, the Canadian International Trade Tribunal found that imports of hot-rolled steel, pre-painted steel, energy tubular products, rebar and wire rod did not pose a threat of “serious injury” […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: The lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Section 232 took an interesting turn earlier this week, with plaintiffs’ petition for immediate Supreme Court review of the case, without passing through the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Ordinarily, […]
Steel interests in North America and the rest of the world are watching intently to see if the Trump administration grants some tariff relief to Canada and Mexico to clear the way for final approval of the new U.S.-Canada-Mexico Trade Agreement. One possible compromise being discussed (albeit one so far opposed by the U.S. trading […]
Editor’s note: The following analysis by Alex Lawson of Law 360 describes the American Institute for International Steel’s position on its filing Monday with the U.S. Supreme Court. The legal push to strike down the Cold War-era law used by President Donald Trump to set tariffs on national security grounds unexpectedly shifted to the U.S. […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: On April 5, the WTO issued a long-awaited Panel decision in a dispute settlement case between Russia and Ukraine. Ukraine complained that Russia interfered with Ukrainian trade flows by restricting the routes that goods could travel. Russia argued […]
The World Trade Organization ruled during a dispute settlement between the Ukraine and Russia that trade restrictions imposed on the grounds of national security are reviewable by the WTO–a decision that could have ramifications for the use of national security measures under Section 232 in the United States. The ruling states that the provision for […]
The Trump administration is threatening to impose tariffs of up to 100 percent on goods imported from the European Union as early as this summer in a long-running dispute over aircraft subsidies. A preliminary list of goods that could be affected covers every major product group. Deadline for comments on the list is May 28. […]
A long-term feud between Boeing in the U.S. and Airbus in Europe is coming to a head. Tuesday the U.S. threatened to impose $11.2 billion of retaliatory tariffs on European goods in response to the continued subsidization of the Airbus manufacturer. “This case has been in litigation for 14 years, and the time has come […]
The American Institute for International Steel has appealed its case against President Trump’s Section 232 tariffs to the U.S. Court of Appeals. “This appeal is an important element of our overall legal strategy. As we noted when we started this journey nine months ago, we strongly believe that in the end this matter will be […]
The U.S. International Trade Commission announced its final antidumping and countervailing duty injury determinations in the investigations concerning imports of large-diameter welded pipe from Canada, Greece, Korea and Turkey. Commerce will issue: antidumping duty orders on imports of LDW carbon and alloy steel line pipe from Canada, Greece, Korea, and Turkey; a countervailing duty order […]
The Canadian International Trade Tribunal recommended on Wednesday that five of seven provisional steel safeguards, imposed by the government following the imposition of Section 232 tariffs by the U.S., be removed. A CITT inquiry concerning the importation into Canada of heavy plate, concrete reinforcing bar, energy tubular products, hot-rolled sheet, pre-painted steel, stainless steel wire, […]
March 23 marked the one-year anniversary of the Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum. The Coalition of American Metal Manufacturers and Users had the following comments for the Trump Administration: “The Coalition of American Metal Manufacturers and Users urges the Trump Administration to terminate the Section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs. At their one-year […]
Much attention has been given to opponents of the Section 232 tariffs, but there are those who support keeping the tariffs even after a new North American trade agreement is approved. The American Line Pipe Producers Association, makers of large-diameter welded pipe, urged the administration to continue the tariffs on LDWP imports from Canada and […]
Steel markets are facing “considerable downside risk” as excess capacity continues to a be a major challenge for the global steel industry. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) found that global steelmaking capacity (in nominal crude terms) was nearly unchanged in 2018 at 2.234 billion metric tons, after declining in the previous two […]
The U.S. Court of International Trade ruled against a legal challenge to the constitutionality of Section 232 brought by the American Institute for International Steel. AIIS alleged that Section 232 violates the constitutional prohibition against Congress delegating its legislative powers to the president. The CIT denied a motion by AIIS for a summary judgment, citing […]
The decision by the U.S. Court of International Trade to deny the American Institute for International Steel’s motion for summary judgment on its constitutional challenge to Section 232 has not deterred AIIS from further action. Said AIIS President Richard Chriss: “We are heartened that the Court of International Trade recognized that Section 232, in the […]