Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis System (SIMA)

At the end of 2013, David Phelps retired as president of the American Institute for International Steel (AIIS) and has just joined Steel Market Update as a contributing writer. Mr. Phelps will be writing about topics concerning the steel industry – particularly in the area of imports and foreign steel. Steel Market Update had a discussion with David regarding the U.S. Department of Commerce system of licensing foreign steel imports and we believe the system is misunderstood and needs some explanation. In the article below Mr. Phelps provides the history and his analysis of the steel import licensing system.

In conjunction with the Section 201 case initiated in early 2002, at the urging of the domestic steel industry, the Bush Administration proposed that the US require licenses for all steel mill product imports.  There began a process for determining how that system would work.  The domestic steel industry’s stated purpose was, of course, to have the government develop a system that would allow them to have an early warning system for imports so they could – surprise surprise – file trade cases faster.  Their proposals for how the system would work would have, also not surprisingly, created a new impediment to importing steel.