The United States and the United Kingdom cancel tariffs on steel products from Brazil

The Ministry of Economy confirmed today (25) that the United Kingdom has decided not to apply protective tax measures on the import of steel sheets and cold rolled steel products.

According to the filing, the British decision was announced on Friday (23), just four days after the US International Trade Commission (ITC) decided to overturn the trade defense (anti-dumping) tariffs that had been in place for more than 5 years. Cold rolled steel products from Brazil.

With the safeguards removed, Brazilian steel becomes more commercially competitive. The United Kingdom and the United States are two of the main markets for Brazilian steel products. Of the nearly $7.3 billion that Brazil exported to the world in 2019, more than $3.4 billion went to the United Kingdom and the United States.

According to the Ministry of Economy, the British authorities were convinced by the argument that the volume of Brazilian exports fell within the criteria of tax exemption allowed by the agreements signed within the scope of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

About a year ago, all steel sheets and cold-rolled steel products sold by Brazilian steelmakers to the UK that exceeded the size limit periodically reviewed by the UK authorities were subject to a 25% surcharge.

The United States will no longer charge an additional duty of up to 46% (35% anti-dumping and 11% countervailing action) on cold-rolled steel products purchased from Brazil. According to the Ministry of Economy, the US decision applies exclusively to Brazilian products, while maintaining the protection measures applied to other countries.

review

On the same day that it reviewed the terms for importing steel products from Brazil, the US International Trade Commission re-evaluated the safeguards applied to products from China, India, Japan, South Korea and the United Kingdom.

In a note, the US commission explained that the measure is part of a review process mandated by international trade rules that must occur every 5 years. Under these rules, during that period, the United States must cancel any preventive or countervailing measures if it is unable to determine that doing so is likely to result in the continuation or recurrence of the circumstances that motivated the same actions.