US ITC sides with auto industry, revokes steel tariffs

The US International Trade Commission is facing a backlash from the domestic steel industry and applause from the domestic auto industry today, after it determined that antidumping orders and tariffs against corrosion-resistant flat rolled steel and cut-to-length carbon steel plate imports from all but two countries currently covered would be revoked. In the sunset review of antidumping orders on corrosion-resistant steel imports, the US ITC made its final determination that all tariffs on corrosion-resistant steel from Australia, Canada, France and Japan, be revoked. Orders against corrosion-resistant steel from Germany and Korea will be maintained. This ruling is controversial, as domestic automakers and other steel-consuming industries argued that the tariffs and duties on this high-grade steel used in cars were detrimental to their industries, while the domestic steel industry argued that the duties and tariffs were necessary to protect it from “illegally dumped steel." As for cut-to-length carbon steel plate, all antidumping orders and countervailing duty orders will be revoked from the following countries: Belgium, Brazil, Finland, Germany, Mexico, Poland, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom. The ITC determined in a unanimous vote that the revocation of these orders would not be likely to lead to the continuation or recurrence of material injury to the domestic industry.