The United States is imposing new tariffs on $1.96 billion worth of aluminum sheet products from 18 countries after determining that the goods were being dumped, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Friday.
The tariffs are being immediately imposed even though the department’s determination that there was dumping are preliminary, he told Fox Business Network.
Bahrain, Brazil, Croatia, Egypt, Germany, Greece, India, Indonesia, Italy, Oman, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, and Turkey are the 18 countries affected by the tariffs, he said. The tariff rate would be largest against Germany with 52 percent to 132 percent, followed by Bahrain with rates in single digits, Ross said.
The announcement follows a USITC investigation prompted by allegations that U.S. industry was “materially injured” by imports of aluminum sheet from the countries listed above, with the products “sold in the United States at less than fair value and subsidized by the governments of Bahrain, Brazil, India, and Turkey.” Petitions prompting the investigation were filed in March by The Aluminum Association Common Alloy Sheet Working group and its individual members.
A preliminary report from the investigation (pdf) found “a reasonable indication” that the allegation was accurate. Ross said the USITC would issue its final determination early next year.
China was not on the list as the Trump administration had already imposed tariffs on Beijing’s aluminum products, Ross said.
President Donald Trump’s tariff-heavy trade policies have sought to shield domestic industries from unfair foreign competition. In January, Trump extended previously imposed “national security” tariffs on steel and aluminum to cover more products. In a sharp break from recent years, the administration brought in $79 billion in tariffs in 2019, twice the value of those in place during the final year of former President Barack Obama’s administration…