Navigating the objection phase of the tariff exemption process

Jun 21, 2018
This week, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross announced the first official exemptions and rejections for companies that applied for exclusions from steel and aluminum tariffs. For seven lucky companies, that means they’ll get to stop paying the tariffs on specific imports — 25 percent for steel and 10 percent for aluminum. But for Sam Desai, who […]

For this Canadian company, tariffs "hit from both ends"

Jun 5, 2018
"We should all be working together" says Paul McGrath of JEM Strapping Systems.
Workers remove a coil from the production line for quality-control testing during steel production at the NLMK Indiana steel mill in March in Portage, Indiana.
Scott Olson/Getty Images

Filing for a tariff exemption? You probably need a lawyer

Jun 5, 2018
The cost of legal fees has come up among many we’ve interviewed about the process of applying for exemptions from steel and aluminum tariffs from the Department of Commerce. Kate Karol, counsel at Butzel Long in Detroit, has been working with several clients on their applications and said the people at her firm have spent […]

As the steel tariff exemption process drags on, optimism wanes

Jun 4, 2018
An American tire cord producer is frustrated by President Trump's 25 percent levy and an objection to his exemption application.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross testifies about U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum imports during a House Ways and Means Committee hearing in Washington, D.C.,  in March.
AFP Photo / Saul Loeb

American manufacturers cope with the loss of EU tariff exemptions

Duties seem like a thing between countries, but individual businesses often wind up holding the economic bag.
Rail cars loaded with rolled up steel at ThyssenKrupp Schwelgern steel plant on May 30, 2018, in Duisburg, Germany.
Michael Gottschalk/Getty Images

Tariff exemption applications move through review process

May 17, 2018
Bill Brebrick of Zapp Precision Wire and Joel Johnson of Borusan Mannesmann submitted applications to the Department of Commerce for exemptions from steel tariffs President Trump implemented in March. The applications were open for public comment for 30 days on regulations.gov. Now, Johnson’s and Brebrick’s applications will be reviewed by the Department of Commerce, which […]

Abe's friendly relationship with Trump didn't earn tariff exemptions for Japan

May 10, 2018
Tokyo expected treatment equal to that of the European Union, one expert says.
President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe walk to their joint press conference at the White House last year.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

Companies say they shouldn't pay tariffs on products no one makes domestically

May 4, 2018
"I don't think people really understand that the U.S. never ... reinvested in its steel-making ability," one executive says.
A worker stacks newly cast steel slabs at the NLMK Indiana mill in March in Portage, Indiana.
Scott Olson/Getty Images

Farmers are "excited" by the prospect re-entering the TPP

Apr 13, 2018
Keith Alverson says farmers like him are after the 95 precent of consumers outside the U.S.
The photographer holds an ear of corn he found on the ground next to a corn field during harvest on September 13, 2012 near Teltow, Germany. 
Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Higher steel costs are expected to become the new normal for manufacturers

Apr 6, 2018
Manufacturers will be clamoring for domestic steel to avoid paying the tariff, so sellers have the upper hand now, explained Emily Blanchard, a business professor at Dartmouth University.
Electrician Chris Lasher at Brookville Equipment Corporation. 
Erika Beras/ Marketplace