• Skip to main content

    Government/Policy

    Trade groups push for steel tariffs, no exclusions

    Written by Stephanie Ritenbaugh


    Five organizations representing the American steel industry wrote to President Trump to support reinstating 25% tariffs on steel imports and eliminating exclusions under the program.  

    The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), Steel Manufacturers Association (SMA), Specialty Steel Industry of North America (SSINA), American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) and US OCTG Manufacturers Association (USOMA) sent a joint letter Monday. It says the industry supports steel tariffs under Section 232 and called for “the elimination of the steel Section 232 exclusion process that has been exploited as a loophole by foreign producers seeking to avoid tariffs.” 

    Stephanie Ritenbaugh

    Read more from Stephanie Ritenbaugh

    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.”