Mexico voted to ratify the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement on Wednesday, paving the path for Canada and the U.S, to follow suit. The vote by the Mexican senate was nearly unanimous at 114 to 4 with three senators abstaining. Although some senators expressed concern about capricious tariff threats from the U.S. president, the sentiment was generally […]
Beginning today, a new portal is available from the U.S. Department of Commerce for those who need to file exclusion requests under the Section 232 measures on steel and aluminum. Companies can request to have products they import excluded from the 25 percent tariff on steel and 10 percent tariff on aluminum if their needs […]
Mexico will not have to face tariffs from the U.S. after coming to an agreement with the Trump administration on immigration. The 5 percent tariff on all goods imported from Mexico was scheduled to begin Monday, but the president called off the punitive measures in a tweet on Friday evening. Said Trump on Twitter: “I […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: On Friday evening, President Trump announced that he was suspending “indefinitely” the tariffs on goods imported from Mexico to the United States. The outlines of the deal that had this result have been announced, but there are no […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: Happy Father’s Day, all you Dads! Several items of interest appeared during the past week: Steel and Aluminum Product Exclusions—The Commerce Department announced a new “232 Exclusion Portal” in a notice it published on June 10. The new […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: The Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum came under new scrutiny last week. A Supreme Court decision and an announcement by U.S. Steel were key developments. First, U.S. Steel announced the idling of two blast furnaces, due […]
By CRU Principal Economist Lisa Morrison During the last two years, we have become somewhat accustomed to waking up to some fresh, new policy idea of the Trump administration, disseminated via presidential tweet. However, the levying of tariffs on Mexican imports, as punishment for Mexico allowing Central American migrants to traverse their country in order […]
A Mexican delegation led by Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard is in Washington trying to convince the Trump administration that tariffs are not the solution to stopping illegal immigration. On Friday, President Trump announced that he would impose a 5 percent tariff on all goods imported from Mexico, with 5 percent monthly increases capped at 25 […]
The Coalition of American Metal Manufacturers and Users issued the following statement on the one-year anniversary (June 1) of full implementation of the Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum imports: The Coalition of American Metal Manufacturers and Users (CAMMU) is encouraged by the termination of Section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs on Mexico and […]
Promises of steel tariff relief were short-lived for Mexico as President Trump’s latest tariff move adds new penalties and dashes hopes for quick ratification of the USMCA. Trump announced on Thursday that 5 percent tariffs will be imposed June 10 on all Mexican goods, including steel, until such time that Mexico stops the influx of […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: President Trump announced his intention to impose new tariffs on imports from Mexico on Thursday afternoon. Beginning June 10, 5 percent tariffs will be imposed on all imports of goods from Mexico. On the first of July, the […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: Asked a Steel Market Update reader: Why are U.S. prices now so far below China’s tariff-adjusted prices? The short answer is that Chinese exports to the U.S. are subject to antidumping and countervailing duties (AD/CVDs) totaling more than […]
Major steel producers in the U.S. had hoped the president wouldn’t blink on the Section 232 tariffs on Canada and Mexico—but he did—in an apparent effort to clear the way for passage of the new North American free trade agreement. Now the mills are supporting the administration’s demand that steel trade in North America be […]
By CRU Principal Analyst Josh Spoores and Analyst Ryan McKinley Steel imports to the U.S. from Canada and Mexico prior to the S232 tariffs were near 12 Mt on an annualized basis. Data from this past March and April show arrivals closer to 7.5 Mt annually. With the end of the S232 on the U.S.’s […]
The Trump administration has cut the U.S. tariffs on steel imports from Turkey in half, trimming them from 50 percent back to 25 percent where they were originally set last August. In a statement on Friday, the White House noted that imports of steel into the U.S. declined by 12 percent overall last year, and […]
The agreement to terminate Section 232 tariffs on Canada and Mexico and all retaliatory tariffs was welcomed by many industry associations. As Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in his announcement remarks on Friday, it was “pure good news.” “On behalf of the membership of the CSPA, we thank the Government of Canada for its significant […]
The U.S. has agreed to lift steel and aluminum tariffs on Mexico and Canada, removing a major roadblock to the ratification of the new North American trade agreement. The Section 232 tariffs, imposing a 25 percent tax on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminum, have been in place just over one year. The tariffs […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: Several notices have been published in the last few days, signaling the new reality of the contentious trade negotiations between the U.S. and China. USTR issued a notice, which has not yet been seen in the Federal Register, […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: The announcements over the last few days have substantially altered the steel and aluminum trade policy priorities of the United States. I am referring, of course, to the following: (1) the U.S. has dropped steel and aluminum tariffs […]
President Trump could decide this week whether to extend the Section 232 tariffs to imports of vehicles and auto parts. May 18 is the deadline for the president to act on the Commerce Department report submitted back in February. As with the steel industry, the administration has argued that a strong automotive industry is essential […]
Opponents of the proposed Section 232 tariffs on imports of autos and auto parts have won at least a temporary reprieve. On Friday, President Trump announced that he will wait six months before reconsidering the tariffs to give the U.S. Trade Representative time to negotiate new agreements on automotive trade with Europe and Japan. In […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: Friday marks a turning point in the “trade war” between China and the United States. A widely expected breakthrough in negotiations was supposed to happen this past week, when the Chinese Vice Premier brought a trade delegation over […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: As President Trump tweeted this past Sunday, the U.S. Trade Representative has issued a notice that List Three of the tariffs on Chinese imports will be subject to 25 percent tariffs effective 12:01 a.m. Eastern time on Friday, […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: President Trump’s Twitter finger twitched on Sunday. He announced via his favorite social media platform that he has grown tired of China’s stalling. He said he will increase the 10 percent tariffs on goods imported from China to […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), the Commerce office handling the 232 steel tariff exclusion requests, recently denied requests from California Steel Industries (CSI), Allegheny Technologies, Inc. (ATI) and Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK). As users of semifinished steel, […]
Canada will keep safeguard tariffs on imports of heavy plate and stainless steel wire—only two products of the original seven provisional safeguards implemented in October. In April, the Canadian International Trade Tribunal found that imports of hot-rolled steel, pre-painted steel, energy tubular products, rebar and wire rod did not pose a threat of “serious injury” […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: The lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Section 232 took an interesting turn earlier this week, with plaintiffs’ petition for immediate Supreme Court review of the case, without passing through the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Ordinarily, […]
Steel interests in North America and the rest of the world are watching intently to see if the Trump administration grants some tariff relief to Canada and Mexico to clear the way for final approval of the new U.S.-Canada-Mexico Trade Agreement. One possible compromise being discussed (albeit one so far opposed by the U.S. trading […]
Editor’s note: The following analysis by Alex Lawson of Law 360 describes the American Institute for International Steel’s position on its filing Monday with the U.S. Supreme Court. The legal push to strike down the Cold War-era law used by President Donald Trump to set tariffs on national security grounds unexpectedly shifted to the U.S. […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: On April 5, the WTO issued a long-awaited Panel decision in a dispute settlement case between Russia and Ukraine. Ukraine complained that Russia interfered with Ukrainian trade flows by restricting the routes that goods could travel. Russia argued […]