Steel Stocks Take Flight As DOC Proposes Tariffs On Imports

Shares of major American steel makers got a lift last Friday after the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) issued the long-awaited reports on its probe into imports of steel and aluminum products and recommended President Donald Trump to impose tariffs or quotas on these imports.

The DOC’s investigations, which were carried out under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, were aimed at determining whether the imports pose a threat to national security. The Trump administration ordered the investigation last year.

The DOC found that these imports “threaten to impair the national security” as defined by Section 232. The reports are currently under consideration by President Trump and no final decisions have been made on the recommendations provided in the reports, the DOC noted.

DOC Recommends Broad-based Actions

The DOC Secretary Wilbur Ross recommended several options (including tariffs and quotas) to address the problem of steel imports. Ross proposed at least 24% global tariff of on all steel imports from all countries.

The other proposed alternatives are at least 53% tariff on all steel imports from Brazil, China, Costa Rica, Egypt, India, Malaysia, Republic of Korea, Russia, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam with a quota by product on steel imports from all other countries equal to 100% of their 2017 exports to the United States and a quota on all steel products from all countries equal to 63% of their 2017 exports.

The DOC also stated that these alternatives are aimed at increasing domestic steel production to roughly 80% operating rate from its present 73% of capacity.

For aluminum, Ross recommended a tariff of at least 7.7% on all exports from all countries. Another option is a 23.6% tariff of on all products from China, Hong Kong, Russia, Venezuela and Vietnam with quotas for all other countries equal to 100% of their 2017 exports to the United States. A quota on all imports from all countries equal to up to 86.7% of their 2017 exports has also been proposed.