Congressional Steel Caucus Holds Hearing On Section 232 Tariffs

While the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on February 28 upheld the constitutionality of President Donald Trump’s Section 232 tariffs (read about the decision here), the Congressional Steel Caucus held a hearing on March 5 that explored the impact of the penalties. (As a reminder, the Metals Service Center Institute has supported these tariffs, as long as they do not apply to North American trading partners. MSCI also has advised that federal officials provide relief for producers up and down the supply chain. Members can find all of MSCI’s Section 232 information here.)

According to FastMarketsAMM (subscription required), “All eight witnesses who testified before the caucus about the state of the American steel industry provided a ringing endorsement of the duties.” Rep. Conor Lamb (D-Penn.) chairs the caucus. Rep. Mike Bost (R-Ill.) and Rep. Rick Crawford (R-Ark.) serves as vice chairman. They also praised the tariffs.

In his opening statement, Congressman Bost said, “Foreign steel competitors have distorted the market by flooding it with unfairly traded steel imports. Many of these products are produced by non-market economies that produce and sell steel at below fair market value. While China is the worst offender, many other nations, including close U.S. allies also engage in unfair trade practices.” The American Iron and Steel Institute has provided transcripts for all of the witnesses’ testimony. Click here to download those remarks.