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    Analysis

    March 22, 2026

    Final Thoughts

    Written by Stephen Miller

    Since the Supreme Court ruled the IEEPA (reciprocal) tariffs imposed by the Trump administration were illegal, the subject of refunds has been circulating. A lower court has ruled refunds are due to importers affected by these tariffs, which amounted to an estimated $166 billion. The process to obtain refunds has not been formally established. However, companies are filing protective claims for refunds so as not to violate any potential deadlines that could be imposed.

    It would seem US steelmakers may be due refunds for the importation of raw materials, like pig iron, direct-reduced iron(DRI), and some ferroalloys, most of which received no exemption from these tariffs. Regarding pig iron and DRI, both were subjected to a 10% tariff when imported from Ukraine, Brazil, and Trinidad. To quantify the level of tariffs collected, I turned to several sources in the US and the exporting countries to estimate volumes shipped and the price at which tariffs were levied. Since shipments in transit were exempt after the tariff went into effect on Aug 7, 2025, completely accurate figures could not be ascertained. Therefore, I just used figures from the fourth quarter of 2025.

    Stephen Miller

    Stephen Miller started his career in the scrap metal industry in 1978 at Luria Brothers in Cleveland. Over the last 40-plus years, he has worked in all capacities in the trading business. He has had positions in both domestic and international scrap trading. In addition to scrap, Miller was at the forefront of the pig iron trade and established a pig iron distribution company under the name of Ferrosource, Inc. Most recently, Miller has concentrated on the scrap export market and regularly does consulting for several companies in the industry.

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