The U.S. International Trade Assessment Commission (USITC) Tuesday rejected the request for additional customs duties on tinned steel imported from Türkiye and lifted the customs duties on tin mill steel used in food cans imported from four countries.
According to a Reuters report, the International Trade Commission, the authorized agency of the White House on trade matters, rejected the request submitted by U.S. organizations for additional customs duties on the said products.
The commission lifted the decision of the U.S. Department of Commerce to impose anti-dumping customs duties ranging from 2.69% to 6.88% on tin-plated steel imported from South Korea, Germany and Canada. In addition, for Chinese imports, it also revoked anti-dumping duties of 122.5% and anti-subsidy duties on tin mill imports.
The independent panel in a statement said it also voted to terminate the tin mill steel anti-dumping duty investigation for South Korea.
Following these decisions, the U.S. will continue to impose a 25% customs duty on tin-plated steel imported from China, South Korea, Taiwan and Türkiye. Former U.S. President Donald Trump imposed customs duties on imports from these countries in 2018.
The decision is said to deal a blow to the second-largest U.S. steelmaker Cleveland-Cliffs and the United Steelworkers union, which petitioned the Commerce Department last year for double- and triple-digit duties, alleging dumping below fair market value.
The petition had included tin mill steel from the Netherlands, Taiwan, Türkiye and the U.K., but the Commerce Department's investigation did not impose duties on these suppliers.
Cleveland-Cliffs said in a statement that it "clearly demonstrated material injury to the domestic industry and Steelworkers from dumped and subsidized imports of tin mill products" but added that it would respect the commission's ruling.
The Can Manufacturers Institute lauded the USITC vote as substantiating its view that the Cleveland-Cliffs petition "is completely unfounded."
The trade group said that domestic steelmakers have not been able to supply the volumes required by can manufacturers, especially for high-grade tin mill steel used in two-piece cans, forcing them to rely on imports.