Suddenly a 25% Duty added to steel from the USA

Yesterday one local client asked us why Steel from USA had suddenly a 25% Duty added – Myles our MD jumped right onto it and discovered that the EU had indeed implemented this increase in Duty. It seems to be in direct response to the USA stance on importing steel to the USA from overseas countries. Almost overnight the cost increase on these goods has caused a huge problem for the client, who has been working on a major development project for a long time, the increase in Duty is a  substantial cost that was not included in the project costings.

Official details:

EU STEEL COUNTERMEASURES

In response to US imposition of increased tariffs on imports of certain steel and aluminium products, the EU introduced “countermeasures” on certain products originating in the USA. There are two sets of countermeasures. The first set applied additional tariffs of 10% or 25% on a range of goods of US origin including steel and aluminium from 22 June 2018 (Annex 1). The second set will introduce maximum import tariffs of 10%, 25%, 35% or 50% from 1 June 2021 (Annex 2) which includes an additional 2 steel and 3 aluminium products. They may be implemented earlier if the EU wins its WTO dispute case against the US decision to introduce increased steel import duties. Full details of the countermeasures including the product lists can be found in Commission implementing Regulation 2018/724.

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