The Coalition of American Metal Manufacturers and Users (CAMMU), which represents more than 30,000 US manufacturing companies and more than one million American workers, together with American trade association the National Foreign Trade Council and other groups representing steel and aluminum-using US companies, has sent a letter to US President Joe Biden requesting the immediate termination of the Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum imports to be able to meet local demand at a time of unprecedented steel shortage.
The letter said that there are historic shortages of readily available and globally priced steel and aluminum products at a time when the country relies on the steel sector to help drive the economy and overcome the challenges caused by the pandemic. The vast majority of manufacturers in the US use only domestically-produced steel and aluminum, and they face major disruptions in operations due to the lack of availability of these raw materials.
The letter also said that, without termination of the tariffs, this situation will worsen if Washington moves forward with an infrastructure bill to invest in America, as these projects will create more strain on domestic steel and aluminum supplies, causing delays in construction and risking manufacturing jobs.
CAMMU pointed out that the US producers’ products cannot compete with overseas manufacturers amid the high steel and aluminum prices in the US. For some products, American businesses pay 40 percent more for similar steel compared to their European counterparts. “Mr. President, we support a strong and thriving steel and aluminum industry, but producers today simply cannot meet demand and the tariffs create a tax that only manufacturers in the US must pay. You have the power to terminate the Section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs imposed on our allies under the auspices of national security concerns. We strongly urge you to do so as quickly as possible so that our companies can continue to manufacture products in America to meet our customers’ demands,” the letter said.