Citing national security concerns the Trump Administration has imposed an additional 25% duty on steel mill and a 10% duty on aluminum articles imported into the United States. As of June 1, 2018, imports from all countries, with 4 exceptions, are subject to the additional tax. Is your company affected by the Trump tariffs on steel and aluminum?

Affected Imports

The affected imports are:

Aluminum Products

  • unwrought aluminum in heading;
  • aluminum bars, rods, and profiles in heading 7604;
  • aluminum wire in heading 7605;
  • aluminum plate, sheet, and strip, and foil (flat rolled products) in headings 7606 and 7607);
  • aluminum tubes and pipes and tube and pipe fitting in headings 7608 and 7609); and
  • aluminum castings and forgings in 7616.99.51.60 and heading 7616

Steel Products

  • flat-rolled products in headings 7208, 7209, 7210, 7211, 7212, 7225 or 7226;
  • bars and rods in headings 7213, 7214, 7215, 7227, or 7228;
  • angles, shapes and sections in heading 7216 (except subheadings 7216.61.00, 7216.69.00 or 726.91.00);
  • wire in headings 7217 or 7229;
  • sheet piling in subheading 7301.10.00;
  • rails in subheading 7302.10;
  • fish-plates and sole plates in subheading 7302.40.00;
  • other products of iron or steel provided for in subheading 7302.90.00;
  • tubes, pipes and hollow profiles in headings 7304 or 7306;
  • tubes and pipes in heading 7305;
  • ingots, other primary forms and semi-finished products in heading 7206, 7207 or 7224; and
  • products of stainless steel in heading 7218, 7219, 7220, 7221, 7222 or 7223.

The additional tariffs are imposed on top of the customary rates that would apply, including anti dumping or countervailing duties. Affected products otherwise eligible for special or duty-free rates under free trade agreements or preferential programs, such as Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) will also have to pay the tariff.

Exempted Countries & Quotas

Steel: Imports from Argentina, Brazil, and South Korea are exempted from the additional 25% tariff but only until the agreed-to quotas have been met. No imports are allowed once the quotas have been reached. The South Korea quota is administered quarterly while the Argentina and Brazil quotas are administered annually.

Aluminum: Imports from Argentina are exempted from the additional 10% tariff but only until the agreed-to annual absolute quota has been met. No imports are allowed once the quotas have been reached.

Steel and aluminum imports from Australia are also exempted from the tariffs, but no quota has been imposed.

Is Your Company Affected by the Trump Tariffs?

While a number of the bigger importers, anticipating the Administration’s actions, have stockpiled, smaller importers may not have had the capital to do so. Companies affected by the Trump tariffs need to be aware of the following:

Use new filing procedures: Importers need to be aware of and use the new filing procedures to avoid detention or penalty.

Monitor quotas: No further imports are allowed once the quota level on a specific has been met. The quota levels are published in Quota Bulletins issued by the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency.

Explore getting an exemption: Companies (including businesses and organizations) that import the affected steel and aluminum products for use in business activities (e.g., construction, manufacturing, or supplying steel to users) in the United States can file with the US Department of Commerce a request for exclusion from the tariffs.

Contact Us

Thousands of exemption requests have already been filed. Contact us for compliance support with the required import filing procedures and to explore filing a request for an exemption from the tariffs.

Andrea