no effect of raise of import duties raised by Trump on products sold by Anemo

Quarter turns, latches, keenserts, ball lock pins, gas springs, ... are not affected by the raise of import duty.
This means we can continue to export to the US

see here the full article

Section 232 - impact

·         On 8^th of March President Trump imposed a US import tariff of 25% on steel imports, except for Canada and Mexico.

·         Tariffs go into effect on March 23, 2018.

·         Tariffs are authorized indefinitely, and the Secretary of Commerce (USTR) will monitor their effectiveness, with the ability to raise or reduce them from “time to time.”

·         Tariffs comprehensively cover steel mills products: HTS codes 7206.10 through 7216.50 (most semi-finished steel, flat rolled products), 7216.99 through 7301.10 (most wire, stainless steel, bars and rod, electric steel, most long products), 7302.10 (rails), 7302.40 through 7302.90 (plates), and 7304.10 through 7306.90 (most pipe and tube).

·         The order provides a product exemption process. Products that are not produced in the United States in “sufficient and reasonably available amounts, or of a satisfactory quality”, can qualify, as can national-security-related products. The Commerce Secretary (DOC) is required to set up this process within the next 10 days.

·         The order provides a vague and open-ended process to exempt countries.

·         The order provides outright and indefinite exemption for Canada and Mexico. However, this can be repealed if circumstances change. Likely for legal reasons, the order makes no reference to linking this issue to NAFTA negotiations.

·         In this announcement made on 1st March, President Trump indicated that the measure would apply for a long time. According to the order signed on 8^th of March, the tariffs shall continue in effect, unless such actions are expressly reduced, modified, or terminated.

·         The tariff would impact US steel imports totaling 26 million tonnes representing a value of 22 billion USD (2017), excluding at this moment Canada and Mexico (9 million tonnes).

·         The combined impact of the tariff on the EU steel industry would cause a severe disruption of the EU steel market and industry:

o    Directly, by reducing drastically the EU steel exports to the US market:
Of the total EU steel exports to the US (4,9 million tonnes, 5,6 billion EUR in 2017), EUROFER estimates conservatively that 50% (2,5 million tonnes) could be excluded from the US market.

o    Indirectly, by massively diverging global steel exports that went to the US market to other major open markets, notably the EU:
Of the total US steel imports (26 million tonnes, 22 billion USD in 2017-excluding Canada and Mexico), EUROFER estimates conservatively that 50% (13 million tonnes) or more could be excluded from the US market including the EU steel imports of which a majority could be diverted to the EU market on top of the already peak EU imports of 40 million tonnes in 2017.

Massive global steel trade diversion triggered by a 25% US import tariff has to be seen in the context of the current global steel excess capacity estimated at 600 million tonnes (total global capacity: 2268 million tonnes).     

·         Loss of exports to the US combined with additional import surge in the EU could force EU steel producers to reduce production by more than 10 million tonnes corresponding to direct job losses up to 20,000 and indirect jobs of up to 140,000.

·         According to an assessment led by the former acting director of the Office of Economics at the U.S. International Trade Commission, Professor Dr. Joseph Francois, the tariffs erga omnes could cost the US economy 146,000 jobs (+33,000 in the steel industry, - 179,000 in the rest of the US economy)[1]. 

·         Over the past 10 years, the (European) steel industry has faced several disruptive shocks including the global steel demand collapse in the wake of the financial crisis (2009), the Eurozone crisis (outbreak 2011) and Chinese steel flooding exports markets triggered by sudden reversal in domestic demand growth exposing massive excess capacities.

·         Any new, sizeable import surge could destabilise the European steel market that has only just begun to settle onto a sustainable growth path. Such trade deflection would break the fragile recovery our sector has seen over the past months.

·         Our industry finally needs a sustainable recovery with sufficiently high margins in order to make the necessary investment in Europe in new technologies and innovative products to preserve a highly skilled EU steel workforce and to contribute to the EU’s ambitious objectives on digitilisation, circular economy and climate change.

·         in the frame of the Global Forum on Steel Excess Capacity. The US and the EU must act together on this as swiftly as possible.