After Donald Trump doubled tariffs on Turkish steel imports to the US late last week, sources in the US import wire rod market have reported a pervasive sense of “who’s next” to be “punished” with higher tariff levels. Aside from over 36,000 mt in wire rod import licenses from Turkey so far this month as of August 14—after accounting for less than 1,000 mt in the past year—the doubled tariffs are not expected to have a substantial impact on the import wire rod market specifically. But US buyers are wary of existing sources suddenly “disappearing” due to higher tariffs.
For now, sources report steady interest and prices, although some say that if indications start pointing toward another price increase from US domestic wire rod mills, interest in imports could rise again. This week, offers for imported wire rod in the US domestic market from Brazil are still in the range of $35.00-$36.00 cwt. ($700-$720/nt or $772-$794/mt) DDP loaded truck in US Gulf ports, while offers from Germany are still around $36.50 cwt. ($730/nt or $805/mt) DDP loaded truck in US Gulf ports and offers from Greece are around $36.00-$37.00 cwt. ($720-$740/nt or $794-$816/mt) DDP loaded truck in US Gulf ports.