The US Department of
Commerce will impose preliminary anti-dumping duties on imported tinplate steel
from Canada, Germany and China due to the metal being “unfairly priced,” it
announced on Thursday August 17
Of the trio facing tariffs, the highest preliminary anti-dumping
duties of 122.5% will be imposed on tin mill steel from China, including the
country’s largest producer, Baoshan Iron and Steel, according to Commerce.
The US
International Trade Commission (ITC) will also impose preliminary duties of 7.02%
on tin mill imports from German producers, including Thyssenkrupp, and 5.29% on
imports from Canadian producers, including ArcelorMittal Dofasco.
Meanwhile, Commerce
preliminarily determined that tin mill products from South Korea, the
Netherlands, Taiwan, Turkey and the UK would not be subjected to anti-dumping
duties.
“Commerce’s
preliminary findings investigate the behavior of, and seek to hold foreign
producers accountable for, their unfair trade practices,” the department said
in a release.
The move is a
“major win” for the steel
industry and will help level the playing field for US firms, sources
told Fastmarkets.
“For the large,
domestically integrated steel manufacturers, this is a major win in expanding
the waterfront of tariffs on steel imports. These anti-dumping duties re-align
the US government toward the inequities many feel have been overlooked,” Samir
Kapadia, principal and head of trade at The Vogel Group, told Fastmarkets.
The Vogel Group is
a bipartisan government affairs and consulting firm based in Washington DC.
“This will
certainly level the playing field for US companies that have wanted to capture
more market share with food can manufacturers. It won’t completely make things
at par, given some countries were spared the newly
imposed duties, but it opens up some pathways for growth,” Kapadia added.