U.S. TO SET TARIFFS ON STEEL AND ALUMINIUM IMPORTS

The Trump administration is to put tariffs on steel and aluminum products of 25% and 10% respectively.

Steel Sources (Percent of total Volume)

1. Canada: 16%
2. Brazil: 13%
3. South Korea: 10%
4. Mexico: 9%
5. Russia: 9%
6. Turkey: 7%
7. Japan: 5%
8. Taiwan: 4%
9. Germany: 3%
10. India: 2%

Aluminum Products Sources (Percent of total Volume)

1. Canada: 56%
2. Russia: 8%
3. UAE: 7%
4. China: 6%
5. Other: 23%

Many associations and government officials alike have warned that the tariffs could set off a trade war, cautioning retaliation should the U.S. impose the tariffs. The European Steel Association (EUROFER), responded to the president’s announcement as follows.  “From one day to the next, EU steel exports to the US – which were at 5 million tonnes in 2017 – will be cut drastically by an estimated 50% or more. The same will happen with all other countries exporting steel to the US. We expect that the tariff could restrict US imports by up to 20-25 million tonnes overall. This would represent a volume representing more than half the total EU imports of 2017 (40 million tonnes). In the current context of massive global excess steel capacity, markets will be forced to take preventive contingency actions to avoid domestic market disruption from trade deflection’.