The US Department of Commerce is launching an investigation to determine whether US steel market participants are “illegally profiteering” from Section 232 tariffs, according to a report from Reuters .
In a Senate Finance Committee hearing today, DOC Secretary Wilbur Ross said the department will investigate recent steel price hikes, telling the committee that steel prices in the US have increased “far more than justified” by the 25 percent import tariff, possibly because of “speculative activity” including holding back supply from the market.
“There’s no reason for tariffs to increase the price of steel by far more than the percentage of the tariff and yet that’s what has been happening,” Ross said, “That clearly is not a result of the tariff, that’s clearly a result of antisocial behavior by participants in the industry.”
Ross did not name any specific company or parties responsible for the price increases, but noted the restart of some idled domestic mills would help “alleviate any supply constraints” by the end of the year.
Ross also said during the hearing that the DOC has approved 41 out of the first 98 requests for Section 232 exclusions, and rejected 56 applications. In total, the department has received over 20,000 individual exclusion requests, and 4,000 objections filed. Ross said few of those requests will be granted because “many of them have no substance but have objections that were well grounded.” Companies with approved exclusions will reportedly be refunded the tariffs they paid on imports.