The United States’ Department of Commerce has begun granting the first product exclusions from the Section 232 tariffs on imports of steel.
“This first set of exclusions confirm what we have said from the beginning—that we are taking a balanced approach that accounts for the needs of downstream industries while also recognizing the threatened impairment of our national security caused by imports,” said Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross.
Exclusions are being granted by the department’s Bureau of Industry and Security “after a thorough and transparent process of public comment and analysis to determine whether domestic industry can provide those products of a satisfactory quality and in sufficient quantity, as well as whether it is in the U.S. national security interest to grant an exclusion for a specific product,” said a Department of Commerce statement.
Exclusions generally are granted if there is no domestic availability and there are no overriding national security concerns over the specific product.
On June 20, there were 42 exclusion requests issued to cover seven different companies importing steel products from Japan, Sweden, Belgium, Germany, and China.
The seven companies receiving the exclusions are Schick Manufacturing, Inc. of Shelton, Connecticut; Nachi America Inc. of Greenwood, Indiana; Hankev International of Buena Park, California; Zapp Precision Wire of Summerville, South Carolina; U.S. Leakless, Inc. of Athens, Alabama; Woodings Industrial Corporation of Mars, Pennsylvania; and PolyVision Corporation of Atlanta, Georgia.
The Department of Commerce will also be denying 56 steel exclusion requests from 11 different companies.
On March 8, 2018, U.S. President Donald Trump, under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, imposed a 25% tariff on steel imports and a 10% tariff on aluminum imports, citing the need to protect national security.
Photo: Paul Goyette
