Canada
April 9, 2026
SMA, AISI upbeat as US chairs Global Forum on Excess Steel Capacity
Written by Ethan Bernard
Domestic steel trade groups think real action could occur with the US chairing the Global Forum on Excess Steel Capacity this year at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Philip K. Bell, president and CEO of Steel Manufacturers Association (SMA), and American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) President and CEO Kevin Dempsey recently attended an OECD meeting in Paris. SMU sat down with them (virtually) to get their thoughts following the meeting.
US chairing Global Forum
“The most important thing for me is that, this year, the US is chairing the Global Forum on Excess Steel Capacity,” Bell said. “There’s a lot of optimism that, with the United States as chair, we’ll see some progress.”
He thinks the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR), the chief US trade negotiator, is committed to being “solution focused and action oriented this time. Not just talking about everything forever.” And Bell said there was a lot of optimism, not only from the US delegation, but from other countries as well.
Likewise, AISI’s Dempsey said that, with the US helming the Global Forum, the States are “setting the agenda.”
“I think that there are governments working towards putting together a proposed action plan that could be approved this summer and go at the working level, and then go to a ministerial level at the meeting of the Global Forum in the fall,” Dempsey said.
He said that, because the US is the chair, the fall meeting is going to be critical.
“Can we go from talking to acting?” Dempsey asked. “Can we get a critical mass of other countries to join with the US, to take action against China’s excess capacity and the surging exports?”
He called the Global Forum mustering the collective ambition to work together “the big test for the year.”
Dempsey said the “US government’s really pushing that, and we’re very supportive of it.”
Tariff change
The meeting was also a chance to take the global temperature a year after President Trump reintroduced a trade regime that includes stricter Section 232 tariffs, “reciprocal” tariffs, and other measures. How have other nations adapted?
“The trend we’re seeing is more and more countries are implementing tariffs in an effort to deal with global excess capacity,” Bell said.
He highlighted China as a “bad actor” in fueling excess capacity. “It’s almost as if the rest of the world is slowly coming around to the US approach. And trying to make their steel industries look more like ours,” he said. “And that’s OK, as long as they’re not market distorting.”
Bell sees tariffs as necessary “when people don’t want to abide by free and fair trade rules.”
AISI’s Dempsey agreed that the OECD steel committee highlighting excess capacity “really makes the case” for the US steel tariffs.
“It documents, from an international standpoint, why the US is completely justified in taking the tariff actions we’ve taken,” Dempsey said. “And it’s why other countries are now following suit.”
North America perspective
During the meeting, both Bell and Dempsey were able to speak with officials from USMCA partners Canada and Mexico. Recall that although the USMCA is up for periodic review in July, it’s still possible that individual trade deals with the countries could happen ahead of that review.
Bell was complimentary of Mexico after SMA and AISI met with Mexican Undersecretary of Economy Luis Gutierrez, who was also in Paris. “I think we really need to give Mexico credit for the approach that they’re taking to USMCA In general,” Bell said. “I was very pleased to see that the talks continue to be strong with Mexico.”
He also mentioned the possibly reviving a group called the North American Steel Trade Committee (NASTC), which existed before the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It was a group of government and industry (professionals) who would get together twice a year to deal with technical issues, to talk about common barriers that we faced, and seek ways to cooperate in terms of steel trade between the three countries,” Bell said. “It’s my hope that the NASTC is revived.”
He also said that officials from the Canadian Steel Producers Association (CSPA) were present at the meeting and that there were good discussions with them as well.
Dempsey agreed. He lauded Mexico’s approach following the meeting. He said Mexico is looking to keep up cooperation with the US on a whole range of issues, and especially on steel trade issues such as global overcapacity. “It was a very friendly, positive meeting,” Dempsey said.
While talk also focused on disagreements between the three countries, SMA’s Bell remained upbeat. “North America needs some type of trading regime, so let’s not be so pessimistic.”
