While the decision by the US Trade Representative (USTR) to exclude US pig iron imports from higher tariffs was expected by market participants, it still brought relief to independent producers, sources told SteelOrbis.
These pig iron producers operate small blast furnaces in Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo in the Southeast, Maranhão and Pará in the North, and Mato Grosso do Sul in the Center-West.
A source at Sindifer, the association representing producers in Minas Gerais, said most of the work during the USTR hearings was carried out by their US clients. The source added Brazilian pig iron is difficult to replace with material from other origins because of its specific qualities and environmental advantages, especially since its reducing agent is charcoal made from Brazil’s plantation forests.
Brazil’s presidential communications secretariat (Secom) said in a statement that “July 15, 2026, will go down in the history of relations between Brazil and the U.S. as a regrettable milestone.”
The statement said Brazil has amassed a $424.5 billion deficit in trade with the US over the past 15 years. It also said 75 percent of imports from the US entered Brazil tax-free, while the average import tariff on those products was 3.1 percent.
According to Secom, Brazil does not recognize the legitimacy of investigations that are not based on multilateral trade rules.
Secom said the process was driven by “false patriots who orchestrated and publicly defended actions against our country, driven by electoral motives.”
