Posted on 13 May 2026
U.S. steel imports posted a sharp year-on-year decline in this year's January-March quarter, despite a modest monthly increase in March, according to data released by the U.S. Census Bureau under the Department of Commerce (DoC).
In the January-March quarter, the United States imported a total of 4.63 million tonnes of steel products, marking a sharp decline of 34.7% compared with the rush in the first three months of last year ahead of Donald Trump's imposition of a 25% duty on all steel imports that took effect in mid-March 2025, Mysteel Global notes.
The total import value in this year's first quarter stood at $4.6 billion, dropping by a sharp drop of 42.4% year-on-year, the DoC statistics show. The average import price was $996/tonne, down 11.8% from a year earlier.
In March alone, the country imported 1.61 million tonnes of steel, up 5.4% from February but still down by a huge 29.2% year-on-year. The import value was $1.6 billion, an increase of 8.7% month-on-month. The value posted a significant decline of 38.5% year-on-year, however. The average import price was $998/t, up 3.2% from February.
The United States reported notable increases in imports of steel products from Canada, Taiwan and Brazil in March. Imports from Canada stood at 258,994 tonnes, soaring 26.8% month-on-month, the DoC figures indicate.
Shipments from Taiwan surged 136.2% on month to 74,818 tonnes in March, as local exporters rushed to ship cargoes ahead of potential trade actions, Mysteel Global notes. This followed the United States Trade Representative's March launch of investigations under Section 301(b) of the Trade Act of 1974 into whether multiple economies were exporting excess industrial capacity to the United States. Shipments from Brazil rose 18.2% month-on-month to 264,350 tonnes.
In contrast, steel imports from Japan, Mexico, and Argentina fell most precipitously due to hefty import tariffs. Shipments from Japan dropped 45.7% month-on-month to 69,748 tonnes. Those from Mexico fell 19.8% on month to 127,668 tonnes, while imports from Argentina plunged 100% to just 9 tonnes, as Argentina was particularly hard hit by the 25% tariff.
Meanwhile, U.S. steel imports from China totaled 22,624 tonnes in March, up 9% from the previous month, according to DoC data.
Source:Mysteel Global
