Mexico Will Not Be Subject to a Steel Lamination and Cores Section 232 Tariff, USTR Says
The U.S. Trade Representative announced that Mexico “will establish a strict monitoring regime for exports of electrical transformer laminations and cores made of non-North American” grain-oriented electrical steel (GOES), and as a result, if there is to be a tariff or quota on electrical transformers or the laminations and cores that are used in them, Mexico will not be subject to it.
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There has been no announcement that a tariff or quota has been recommended to the White House for electrical steel laminates and cores, and a Commerce Department spokesman declined to comment on the timing of any announcement. Earlier in the week, Cleveland-Cliffs, the only U.S. company that makes electrical steel, praised Trump for taking action under the statute to protect it (see 2011030057). That company complained that the 25% tariff on GOES led to higher imports of cores and laminates made from GOES, and so its market share was still imperiled.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said in a Nov. 5 press release: “The resilience of North America’s energy infrastructure is significantly enhanced by having electrical steel production capability within our region. An influx of low-price steel from third countries imperils this capability. I thank [Mexico Economy] Secretary [Graciela] Márquez and her staff for their continued engagement and close coordination as we worked to find cooperative solutions to a common regional challenge.” Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, responded to the news by saying he's pleased that the agreement that Lighthizer achieved will “protect the workers who produce grain oriented electrical steel in Zanesville, Ohio and Butler, Pennsylvania.”