Trade Cases

Commerce says Nippon dumped steel in US in 2022-23
Written by Laura Miller
November 15, 2024
Nippon Steel supposedly dumped hot-rolled steel sheet in the US in 2022 and 2023 at not-insignificant rates.
That’s according to the preliminary results of a review of the antidumping duty (AD) order on hot-rolled steel flat products from Japan. The US Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration is conducting the review; it will issue the final results at a later date.
The annual administrative review considered imports from two companies, Nippon Steel Corp. and Tokyo Steel Manufacturing Co., between Oct. 1, 2022, and Sept. 30, 2023.
Tokyo Steel did not dump steel during that time, according to Commerce’s early review results, and was assigned a 0% margin, the same as the year before.
Meanwhile, Commerce determined that Nippon Steel sold HR steel in the US at prices below normal value, assigning it a weighted-average dumping margin of 29.03%. That’s up significantly from the 1.39% margin Nippon received in the prior one-year period.
Note that Commerce lumps Nippon Steel Corp., Nippon Steel Nisshin Co., and Nippon Steel Trading Corp. together as a single entity for its reviews.
It’s also important to note that these results are preliminary and could be adjusted higher or lower in Commerce’s final determination.
Still, the department’s findings are interesting considering Nippon’s still-pending purchase of U.S. Steel. Nippon’s first bid for USS came late in September 2023. So it will also be interesting to see the Japanese steelmaker’s dumping margins in the next review, which will look at October 2023 through September 2024.
Nippon Steel had not returned a request for comment by this story’s publication.
Note the domestic producers participating in this administrative review include Nucor, SSAB, Steel Dynamics Inc., and U.S. Steel.
Review of duties on Korean HR steel
Commerce also recently revealed the initial results of reviews of the AD and countervailing duty (CVD) orders on HR steel from South Korea.
Considering the same one-year time frame as above, Commerce set initial dumping margins of 2.10% for POSCO and 0.89% for Hyundai Steel.
Although those margins are slight, they are up from 0% in the previous review.
Commerce also found higher countervailable subsidy rates for Korean HR steel producers in 2022 vs. 2021.
For calendar-year 2022, Commerce set initial subsidy rates of 2.21% for Hyundai and 1.47% for POSCO. Those compare to the 2021 rates of 0.76% and 0.86%, respectively.
The department will finalize the AD and CVD margins in the coming months.

Laura Miller
Read more from Laura MillerLatest in Trade Cases

Price on Trade: IEEPA tariffs head to the Supreme Court, DOJ ramps up trade enforcement
International trade law and policy remain a hot topic in Washington and beyond this week. We are paying special attention to the ongoing litigation of the president’s tariff policies and the administration’s efforts to heighten trade enforcement.

Mexico considers stiff tariffs for steel, autos, and other imports
Mexico is considering imposing steep tariffs on imports of steel, automobiles, and over 1,400 other products. Its target? Countries with which it does not have free trade agreements, mainly China, India, Thailand, and other South Asian nations.

Leibowitz: With ‘reciprocal’ tariffs struck down again in court, what happens next?
President Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Policy Act (IEEPA) were struck down again, this time on Aug. 29 by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC). The legal and policy mess continues, with the next stop being the US Supreme Court.

Market unfazed by US circuit court’s IEEPA decision
Repealing any reciprocal tariffs placed by President Donald Trump on US imports of direct reduced iron (DRI), iron ore, hot-briquetted iron (HBI), and pig iron would have only a nominal impact on the US steel market, market participants said.

ITC votes to keep HR duties after sunset review
The US government determined this week that hot-rolled steel imports from a handful of countries continue to threaten the domestic steel industry.