New US duties on Chinese tin mill steel imports are struck down, drawing criticism from lawmakers

A US trade agency struck down proposed duties on tin mill steel imports from China and three other countries on Tuesday, drawing criticism from lawmakers whose constituencies include steelmakers that claimed the tariffs were essential to offset below-cost dumping by foreign companies.

A four-member panel of the International Trade Commission voted unanimously to overturn 122.5 per cent tariffs on Chinese tin mill products the US Commerce Department proposed last month.

The ITC also struck down duties the department proposed for tin mill steel imports from Canada, South Korea and Germany, but those ranged merely from 2 to 6.88 per cent.

The commission determined that the US industry was not “materially injured or threatened” by the imports. The US will continue to levy a 25 per cent custom duty on tin mill steel from China that was first imposed in 2018 during the Donald Trump administration.

Senator Sherrod Brown, Democrat of Ohio, said the ITC “got this wrong”, contending that the ruling would “make it impossible for Ohio’s tin mill industry and other domestic manufacturers to compete with unfair, illegally dumped steel from countries like China”.

Brown, along with Senator Joe Manchin, Democrat of West Virginia, testified in January before the panel in favour of the proposed new duties.

Following the ITC ruling, Manchin vowed to do “everything” to protect steelworkers and American manufacturing, saying that a “robust” steel industry was vital to national security.

Both senators had toured a tin mill steel facility in West Virginia that employed more than 900 workers in September. The factory is owned by Cleveland-Cliffs, one of the only two significant domestic producers of tin mill steel and a petitioner in the case against imports.

On January 4, Cleveland-Cliffs, along with the United Steelworkers union, had sought the tin mill duties. Later that month, the Commerce Department in an investigation found that producers in China, Canada, South Korea and Germany were selling their products at lower prices in the US than in their home markets.

New duties on Chinese tin mill steel are opposed by US business group

The Consumer Brands Association, which represents about 200 packaged goods companies, argued that US companies import tin mill products from foreign manufacturers because US steelmakers did not meet quality standards and other requirements.

Tom Madrecki, a CBA vice-president, said that rather than invest in tin mill, US steelmakers prioritise producing steel that commands higher margins.

On Tuesday, the business group welcomed the ITC’s decision, saying that if the tariffs had been imposed at the levels requested by Cleveland-Cliffs, “nearly 40,000 manufacturing jobs would have been put at risk, with consumer prices for canned goods soaring up to 30 per cent”.

The CBA said that can manufacturers were concerned the new duties would prompt their clients to explore other markets like Mexico, from which tin mill containers could be imported without extra tariffs.