EnThe U.S. Commerce Department, under the guidance of President Donald Trump, will publish the details of planned section 232 “national security” tariffs on steel and aluminum today, Axios reports. While the President initially indicated, as outlined in Panjiva research of March 1, that there would be no exemptions in the duties there may in fact be a carve-out for Canada and Mexico according to Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy Director Peter Navarro on Fox Business. That would only be made permanent subject to the outcome of the ongoing NAFTA negotiations.
The two countries combined accounted for 32.2% of total imports in 2017, led by 42.3% of aluminum and 33.7% of flat steel products, Panjiva data shows. The smallest impact will be on stainless steel (10.0% where Germany leads).
The original Commerce Department report suggested that tariffs / quotas for other countries would need to be scaled up to ensure the maintenance of 80% capacity utilization need for the industries to be effective. As always, the devil will be in the details.
Source: Panjiva
