Reuters
Steel imports seen up slightly if US tariffs ended
Tuesday December 2, 6:18 pm ET
NEW YORK, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Imports of steel to the United States will rise from current levels if President Bush ends controversial tariffs on the product but won't reach pre-tariff levels in the near term, an industry group which represents steel importers said on Tuesday.
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"Many believe that the floodgates will be open if the president eliminates the 201 (tariffs); I don't think so," said Wilfried von Bulow, chairman of the American Institute of Imported Steel (AIIS), at a news conference. "Will there be more steel available? Yes. But will millions of tons flow into the country? Definitely not."
U.S. President George Bush is expected to lift the duties this week, about 16 months ahead of schedule, industry and congressional sources have said.
Analysts have said the early elimination of the duties would not significantly help importers due to a weak U.S. dollar and rising freight rates out of Europe.
However, AIIS President David Phelps said if the tariffs are ended this week as expected, a conservative estimate for monthly levels of imported steel in a healthy economy would be in the range of 2 million to 2.4 million tons by mid-year.
That would be higher than October levels of 1.7 million tons of steel, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute. But Phelps' estimate is lower than 2002 levels when the tariffs were at their highest point and the United States imported an average of about 2.7 million tons of steel per month.
Domestic steelmakers shipped about 9 million tons of steel in September.
The near-term impact of early elimination of the tariffs on steel consuming manufacturers is also not likely be significant, said Lewis Leibowitz, counsel for the Consuming Industries Trade Action Coalition Steel Task Force.
"Any siginificant trade flow changes are going to take a while to develop -- I think mostly the immediate effect will be a psychological one," said Leibowitz. "People who are on the edge of having to make major decisions about layoffs, plant closures, moving production overseas are going to view ... lifting the tariffs as a major development they need to consider before they take those steps."
The tariffs were instituted in March 2002 under section 201 of U.S. trade law to help the ailing steel industry after a string of more than 30 steel bankruptcies. The move was made in response to claims by U.S. steel companies that the country had become a dumping ground for cheap foreign steel.
The World Trade Organization ruled in November that the steel tariffs violated international trade laws. The EU has threatened sanctions against $2.2 billion worth of U.S. exports, ranging from citrus to apparel, if the program is not scrapped.