According to Marco Pollo Melo Lopes, executive president of IABR (the Brazilian steel institute), when the US implemented a 25 percent import tariff earlier this year, the prices and volumes of steel products exported from Brazil to the US had to adjust to the new conditions.
Now, with the increase in the tariff to 50 percent, he anticipates that further adjustments will be necessary, again affecting prices and volumes. Lopes noted that a significant portion of the steel exported from Brazil to the US consists of slabs, a semifinished product essential for the rolling operations of US steel companies, as the country does not produce enough slabs domestically.
Meanwhile, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva stated that he has instructed Vice President Geraldo Alckmin to continue negotiations with US authorities to establish a quota system for importing Brazilian slabs at a reduced tariff rate.
President Lula cautioned that, should these negotiations fail to yield a favorable outcome, he would consider implementing commercial retaliations against the US, proportional to the imposition of the 50 percent tariff.
Second only to Mexico, Brazil exported more than 4.294 million mt of slabs to the US in 2024.
