Community Events
January 13, 2026
Join SMU on Jan. 21 for a Community Chat with CSN's Jerry Richardson
Written by Michael Cowden
CSN LLC General Director Jerry Richardson will join Steel Market Update (SMU) for a Community Chat on Wednesday, Jan. 21, at 11 am ET.
The live webinar is free for anyone to attend. A recording will be available only to SMU members. You can register here.
For those who might not know, CSN stands for Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional – one of Brazil’s leading steelmakers. Richardson is the company’s top officer in the US. So he’s in a good position to talk about how the company sees key end markets shaping up this year. He’ll also speak about Brazil’s iron and steel infrastructure, some of its inherent advantages (e.g., high Fe ore), and some of the differences in trade strategy between Brazil and the US.
We’ll discuss how abrupt changes to US trade policy have whipsawed the steel trade with Brazil. Recall that Brazil saw its Section 232 quota removed in March of last year and replaced with a 25% S232 tariff, one that doubled to 50% in June. The tariffs have effectively decoupled a previosuly tight correlation between Brazilian slab prices and US HRC prices.
Brazilian exports were also hammered with a 50% “reciprocal” tariff following a political dispute between President Trump and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. (Exemptions were later made for a variety of goods, including pig iron, of which Brazil is the primary supplier to the US.)
And that’s not to mention an AD/CVD case targeting imports of coated flat-rolled steel. That left CSN facing a final dumping rate of nearly 200%.
To put all of that into context, Richardson will talk about the history of trade remedy law (in particular the idea of “injury” in trade cases). He’ll also touch on import statistics over the last 25 months, and US market conditions – and notable events – that have shaped the market since 2020.
Finally, we’ll discuss how a foreign steelmaker – one with long roots in the US (CSN used to operate what is now SDI Heartland) – continues to reliably supply customers in the States against a backdrop of rapidly shifting trade policy and political alliances.
In short, what is the role for imports in a US steel market that has taken aim even at key, longtime suppliers such as Canada, Mexico, and Brazil? (Brazil is the second-biggest foreign steel supplier to the US behind Canada.)
And we’ll take you questions too, so don’t forget to bring some good ones to the Q&A, again, on Wednesday, Jan. 21, at 11 am ET.
