The steel tariff war continues

The US Department of Commerce announced that it had found tin-coated steel coil products from Canada, China, Germany and South Korea were being dumped into the US market.

According to a statement issued on January 5, the US Department of Commerce also affirmed that tinplate coil products - a shiny silver metal widely used to produce food cans, paint, spray cans and other containers - imported from the Netherlands, Taiwan, Türkiye and the United Kingdom were not dumped.

As a result, the US Department of Commerce has imposed final anti-dumping duties on tin-plated steel imported from Canada, Germany and China.

According to the US news agency BNN Breaking, the highest tariff applied to some types of steel imported from China is 122.5%. China's leading steelmaker, Baoshan Iron and Steel Co Ltd, now faces a countervailing duty of 650%, while other Chinese steelmakers are at 331.9%. Germany's ThyssenKrupp Rasselstein and other German producers have been assigned a final tariff of 6.88%, while Canada's ArcelorMittal Dofasco and other domestic producers are at 5.27%. South Korea's KG Dongbu Steel is set at 2.69%.

The US imposes new anti-dumping duties on tin-plated steel coils from many countries. Photo: GETTY IMAGES

The final duties largely match the Commerce Department’s preliminary anti-dumping duties on tin-coated steel imported from Canada, Germany, and China imposed in August 2023. At that time, after a preliminary investigation found that a subsidiary of Canadian steelmaker ArcelorMittal and German-headquartered ThyssenKrupp dumped galvanized steel into the U.S. market at prices below those of similar products in their domestic markets (at dumping rates of 5.3% and 7%, respectively), the U.S. Commerce Department imposed preliminary anti-dumping duties on tin-coated steel imported from Canada and Germany. The highest preliminary anti-dumping duty of 122.5% was imposed on tin-coated steel coil imported from China.

Canada expressed disappointment at the anti-dumping duties, citing the potential adverse effects on supply chains and inflation. “These duties not only undermine the supply chain between Canada and the United States, but also exacerbate the impact of inflation on both sides of the border,” Canadian Trade Minister Mary Ng said in a statement, according to Reuters. “Canada will continue to defend the interests of the Canadian steel industry and its workers.”

The US International Trade Commission is expected to make a final decision in the coming weeks on whether these tariffs will be applied.

Synthesized HINGED CHI

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