Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) are urging the Biden administration to close loopholes in the Section 232 steel tariff program that is designed to ensure a level playing field for America’s structural steel production and fabrication industries.
The American Institute of Steel Construction stands with their call to expand the scope of the Section 232 steel tariff program. Ensuring a fair and competitive market for U.S. steel translates to increased production capacity–and it protects American jobs and the families and communities that rely on them.
“When this trade action was taken back in March of 2018, it was designed to re-level the playing field and protect our national security by putting up barriers against foreign interests in our transportation systems, our electric power grid, our water systems, and our energy generation systems,” said AISC Vice President of Sustainability and Government Relations Brian Raff. “It’s important that we remember and respect the origin story of these trade remedies. In 2018, the U.S. Department of Commerce believed that steel was important to U.S. national security, encompassing many if not all of our U.S. critical infrastructure sectors. I’m hopeful that the Administration still believes that and is interested in doing everything it can to protect the steel industry and its workers from unfair trade practices.”
At issue: Foreign producers shifting production downstream to import products that are not currently included in the Section 232 steel tariff scope. This production shift allows them to avoid tariffs currently imposed on raw materials. The current Section 232 tariffs do not cover all derivative products, so foreign manufacturers are able to bring some in tariff free; some foreign actors, including China, subsidize these products to undercut the domestic products that support American communities.
The steel derivative products in question are fabricated structural steel (FSS) and prestressed concrete (PC) steel strand. Both are critical to the nation’s physical infrastructure, which includes fortifying roads, bridges, and buildings. “These downstream products are weakening the efficacy of our trade laws, ceding market share to foreign producers, and putting U.S. jobs at risk,” the senators wrote in a letter dated October 9, 2024.
Congressional Steel Caucus leaders Rep. Crawford (R-Ark.) and Mrvan (D-Ind.) sent a similar letter to the Secretary of Commerce on September 18, 2024.
“To maintain the integrity of the Section 232 steel tariff program, we urge you to expand the scope of the Section 232 tariffs to include PC strand and FSS under the derivative products provision of the statute,” the senators concluded. “This crucial step will help workers and companies across the domestic steel supply chain and support the world’s cleanest and most carbon-efficient steel industry.”
