• Skip to main content

    Government/Policy

    May 3, 2018

    Brazil Takes Quota on Steel But Tariff on Aluminum

    Written by Sandy Williams

    Brazil says it will agree to quotas on finished and semi-finished steel exports to the U.S. in return for exemption from the 25 percent Section 232 tariffs, according to Inside U.S. Trade. Brazil is the latest country to capitulate to U.S. demands, agreeing to a quota of 70 percent of its three-year average exports of finished steel and 100 percent of exports of semi-finished steel.

    “Faced with the decision announced by the U.S., the representatives of the aluminum sector indicated that the less harmful alternative to their interests was to endure the additional tariffs of 10% that were originally foreseen,” the Brazilian Ministry of Industry and Commerce and the Foreign Relations Ministry said in a May 1 press release. “On the other hand, the representatives of the steel sector informed that the imposition of quotas would be less restrictive than the 25% tariff.”

    Sandy Williams

    Read more from Sandy Williams

    Latest in Government/Policy

    Leibowitz: Will the next Congress take aim at Trump’s tariffs to address affordability concerns?

    The election last Tuesday was a stunning rebuke to President Trump and many of his policies. High prices and pessimism about the economy were clearly on the minds of voters and the members of Congress they sent to Washington. Trade policy can help address those issues. Some trade experts think the new Congress could deal with tariffs on imports from Canada early on. I also expect hearings and new bills to more closely control presidential authority over tariffs. Much is unknown about what will happen come January, when new members convene. But some points are already obvious to those who see politics as a means to an end (governing) rather than as an end in itself (getting elected).

    Canadian minister urges probe of Cliffs’ handling of Stelco

    Canadian Minister of Industry Melanie Joly has urged that Canada’s Competition Bureau examine Cleveland-Cliffs’ conduct in the Canadian marketplace following its Stelco acquisition. Minister Joly sent a letter to Jeanne Pratt, Commissioner of Competition, on Friday, regarding testimony Cliffs Chairman and CEO Lourenco Goncalves made to the US Congressional Steel Caucus, and a subsequent interview to the CBC. oly said that in the Caucus testimony, “Goncalves stated that his company had acquired Stelco to ‘block’ it from selling into the US market.”