The Coalition of American Metals Manufacturers and Users (CAMMU) has urged President Biden to rescind the Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.
In a letter sent to the White House on Feb 10, CAMMU indicated that the tariffs were hurting smaller domestic steel and aluminum manufacturers and spoiling relations with trade partners. According to the coalition, the need of the hour was to work with US trade partners to address the issue of “excess steel and aluminum capacity in China.”
Apart from the tariffs, CAMMU cited the US Department of Commerce’s “broken exclusion process” as one of the key factors that were keeping US manufacturers from competing in the global market. The recission of Section 232 Tariffs on steel and aluminum, CAMMU noted, would prevent smaller metals producers from shutting down production lines and layoffs in the current economic environment.
On the issue of excess capacities in China, the coalition wrote that a unified global effort was needed to address this issue and to that effect, urged the Biden administration to re-engage with the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) for a solution.
So far, the Biden administration has retained the tariffs as it assesses their impact after some associations pointed out the ill-effects of removing them. It has also asked Commerce for some more time to study the new Aluminum Import Monitoring (AIM) system that was introduced by the latter in December before it is finalized and rolled out. As a result, Commerce, which was to roll out the policy in January has now deferred the implementation date to March.