Posted on 31 Mar 2022
The US Supreme Court has denied a petition by Turkish steel exporters to review a lower court's opinion that the president can hike existing Section 232 steel tariffs.
The high court declined to review the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit 2-1 decision in July that said the president is allowed to change 232 tariff rates after a tariff has been applied.
The plaintiffs in the case were Turkish exporters Transpacific Steel, Borusan Mannesmann Boru Sanayi Ve Ticaret, Borusan Mannesmann Pipe US and Jordan International.
The case revolves around then-president Donald Trump's decision to raise tariffs on steel imports from Turkey to 50pc in August 2018 from their original 25pc imposed in March of that year.
The tariffs on Turkey fell back down to 25pc in May 2019.
Since President Joe Biden assumed office in January 2021, the US has made non-tariffed quota deals with the EU, Japan and the UK. The US already had existing deals with Argentina, Brazil and South Korea, and allows unlimited non-tariffed steel imports from Australia, Canada and Mexico.
The duties — which included a 10pc tariff on imported aluminum products — were originally imposed under Section 232 as Trump determined the US steel industry was threatened by imports, causing a national security threat. Part of the tariffs' purpose was to help boost steel capacity utilization rates to at least 80pc, the rate the industry said it required to remain profitable.
Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic reaching the US, the industry was operating above the 80pc threshold for three consecutive months, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI). During the depths of the pandemic response-induced economic recession, the steel industry's utilization rates fell to 51.1pc at the beginning of May 2020.
Since the week ending 29 May 2021, US steel capacity utilization rates have been above 80pc, averaging nearly 83pc through the week ending 26 March.
Source:Argus Media
