Government/Policy
May 8, 2026
AISTech 2026: Panel calls for strengthening trade actions
Written by Stephanie Ritenbaugh
Section 232 might make headlines, but strengthening anti-dumping and countervailing duty enforcement is just as important, domestic steel industry executives said.
Kevin Lewis, chief financial officer and head of tubular solutions for U.S. Steel, said AD/CVD should be one of three pillars limiting imports. The other two? Continued Section 232 tariffs and stronger enforcement of both duties and tariffs.
“You can have the policies. But are they being enforced at our borders to help protect the domestic market?” Lewis asked.
He pointed to imports of tin mill products as an example. U.S. Steel and the United Steelworkers (USW) union last month filed a trade petition targeting imported tin products.
Recall the International Trade Commission (ITC) in 2024 tossed a similar petition filed by Cleveland-Cliffs and the USW.
“We have seen tin imports continue to increase into this country at very low prices, and we had idled domestic tin capacity that we wanted to be able to restart to support domestic customers,” Lewis said.
The US imported 1.21 million metric tons (mt) of tin plate in 2025, according to Commerce Department figures. That’s up 24% from 973,886 mt in 2024 and up 64% from 737,286 mt in 2023.
“With the trade action that we filed, and the support of numerous other parties in that trade action, we have the confidence that we’ll have the market to be able to meet domestic demand,” he added. “And it’s just one example how increasing trade enforcement helps protect domestic industries (and) brings back idle facilities and supports American jobs.”
U.S. Steel announced it would restart production at its Gary Tin Mill in Northwest Indiana after filing the trade petition. Citing weak demand, the company had indefinitely idled the facility in 2022.
Lewis was one of several panelists who spoke at the Association for Iron and Steel Technology’s annual AISTech conference. The Town Hall was part of the event, which was held in Pittsburgh on May 4-6. It brought approximately 9,700 attendees to the Steel City.
Paul Lawrence, chief financial officer for Commercial Metals Co., echoed support for AD/CVD mechanisms. He said they “provide more durability” than tariffs, which can be quickly imposed by one presidential administration but just as quickly removed by another.
“They’re different from (Section) 232, which … could be changed overnight,” Lawrence said.
But those trade actions must be modernized, as it can take too long to determine injury, he said.
“We, recently, as a rebar coalition, filed a trade case for a period of 2022-2024 against four nations,” Lawrence said. “We got the first ruling against Algeria back last month. That took from 2022, when injuries started to finally get action.
“We need to get something that’s more efficient, that actually protects industry. Four years is too long, and that’s too much damage that can happen to an industry,” he said.
Jack Sullivan, chief financial officer for Nucor, said tariffs have lowered imports into the US.
In the first quarter, imports of finished steel dropped 35% year over year, which he attributed to Section 232, individual trade cases, and enforcement.
Still, backdoor channels remain an issue that should be addressed during the upcoming talks among the US, Mexico, and Canada on a tri-country trade agreement.
“I think the best outcome of that is going to be this administration feeling more confident that those back door channels are starting to get sealed off,” Sullivan said.
Impact from the Iran war
Lawrence noted the uncertainty the war in the Middle East has created.
He cited the Dodge Momentum index, a monthly reading based on the three-month moving average of nonresidential building projects entering planning, which is near record highs.
“There’s a lot of interesting projects that people want to go forward with and execute on. The delays we’re seeing are really a result of uncertainty,” Lawrence said. “In my view, the Iran war is creating uncertainty.”
“We’ve gotten through a lot of periods of uncertainty, whether it be tariffs or other factors like Covid, over the last half dozen years or so. But this is just another one that it would be great if the rumors of getting close to a ceasefire… are more fully realized, and the Strait (of Hormuz) is opened up, because I think that would give a lot of confidence to people of moving projects forward.”
Lewis said the Iran war is another example of geopolitical risk that bolsters the case for strong trade policy.
“We talked about trade policy ensuring that we have a strong domestic American steel industry,” Lewis said. “The stronger that we can make our industrial base, the stronger and more resilient our trade policies are, the more immune, or maybe less vulnerable we are, to some of these geopolitical conflicts around the world.”
“These types of disruptions are inevitable, but it’s how do you build the resiliency, either within your own business or within the industry, so that you can respond,” Lewis said.
Higher fuel costs will be another headwind for imports, Sullivan said, which supports domestic producers.
“Another thing is in speaking with investors about what’s on their minds, one of the things we’ve seen is more interest in our sector from generalist investors,” Sullivan said. “One of the reasons why generalist investors have started coming in to a lot of our securities is because they view US steel producers with a highly domestic supply chain as being fairly insulated to all of that geopolitical uncertainty and the gumming up of global supply chains.”
