Steel Mills
CSI: Slabs Should be Exempt from Section 232 Tariff
Written by Tim Triplett
March 6, 2018
California Steel Industries (CSI) is calling for President Trump to exclude semi-finished steel from the 25 percent tariff he is expected to impose on steel imports under Section 232.
CSI is a “slab converter” mill, relying almost entirely on imported slab as feedstock to produce coil steel sheet and electrical resistance welded (ERW) pipe. Because steel slabs are not consistently available in the United States, nor are they produced anywhere in the western U.S., CSI buys its slabs primarily from Mexico, Brazil and Japan. The company is the largest customer by tonnage of the Port of Los Angeles, importing more than 1.5 million tons of slabs annually. It supplies finished steel products to hundreds of manufacturers and distributors, supporting thousands of jobs across the western U.S.
Placing tariffs on slabs may run counter to President Trump’s goal of protecting American steel jobs. The slabs are critical to the health of converters such as CSI, as well as integrated steel mills, which supplement their production needs with imported slabs. Imported slabs represent about 6.3 percent of total steel demand in the U.S. There was no surge of imported slabs in 2017.
“So, imported slabs are not part of the problem, but part of the solution, particularly in the western U.S.,” said CSI President and CEO Marcelo Botelho Rodrigues. “Our model allows us to maintain our operations in California and comply with the strict environmental regulations of our home state.”
Rodrigues noted that there have never been unfair trading cases filed against slab imports. “We are for fair trade, and the international slab market in which CSI participates has no problems in that area,” he said. “Furthermore, we do not buy slabs from China.” On the other hand, he said, CSI was a key participant along with industry peers as a plaintiff in numerous antidumping and countervailing duty cases against unfairly traded finished sheet and pipe products.
Tim Triplett
Read more from Tim TriplettLatest in Steel Mills
CRU: Blackout knocks out ArcelorMittal mill ‘for months’
Truchas works in Lazaro Cadenas, Michoacan, western Mexico. Repairs may take up to six months.
Nippon Steel posts quarterly loss on cost to buy U.S. Steel
Nippon Steel earnings take hit from buy of U.S. Steel.
Atlas completes Evraz NA deal, renames firm, and hires former USS exec as CEO
Atlas Holdings has completed its acquisition of Evraz North America (Evraz NA) and its subsidiaries.
ArcelorMittal: As tariffs slow global growth, Calvert could be a bright spot
ArcelorMittal expects less demand growth across most of the markets it operates in, including the US, because of President Donald Trump’s tariffs. But the Luxembourg-based steelmaker also thinks it stands to benefit from an increasingly regionalized world thanks to investments like the new EAF at its mill in Calvert, Ala.
Ternium posts solid Q2, expects further shipment growth
Latin American steel producer Ternium delivered a solid performance in the second quarter of 2025. Performance was driven primarily by higher realized steel prices in Mexico, even as shipment volumes declined slightly across its regional portfolio.