US picks winners and losers in Steel Tariffs battle

US imports from Japan and Thailand have been given most of the exemptions from the Trump administration’s new tariffs on steel, while requests from Canada and Brazil have been rejected, government data show. Filings on thousands of tariff decisions by the US Department of Commerce, posted on the web, have indicated how officials view the need for imports of steel and aluminium into the US.

Railway tracks and metal for food cans are among the products that have been granted exclusions from tariffs, while wire used to make parts for cars, and industrial razor blades, have been denied relief. When President Donald Trump announced in March new import tariffs of 25 percent on steel and 10 per cent on aluminium to protect domestic producers, the administration put in place a mechanism for companies to seek exemptions, if they could show that the metal they were buying could not be manufactured in the US.

The result has been to give US government officials responsibility for tens of thousands of decisions that have a significant impact on businesses’ costs. As of August 20, more than 38,000 requests had been filed for exclusions from the tariffs, and more than 17,000 objections from US steel and aluminium producers arguing that exemptions should be denied. A similar process has been created for exclusions from the administration’s tariffs on goods from China, multiplying the number of products subject to government decision-making.

Source : https://www.ft.com