Steel and Aluminum Import Duties

Import duties on steel and aluminum kick in Friday, March 23. Today, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced details of the process for exemptions to the duties and will only grant exclusions in three cases: if the steel or aluminum product “is not produced in the United States in a sufficient and reasonably available amount; is not produced in the United States in a satisfactory quality; or for a specific national security consideration.”On Friday, the European Union published a 10-page list of American products that would be targets for retaliation if the steel and aluminum tariffs go through, including peanut butter, grains, rice (long and short grain), kidney beans, cranberries, orange juice, tobacco, peanut butter, motorcycles and steel. The EU shipped $6.2 billion of steel and $1.1 billion of aluminum products to the U.S. last year.