Dünya Newspaper columnist Kerim Ülker explained the following in his article; “Four steel giants, including US Steel, NUCOR and Steel Dynamics, came together for an antidumping investigation against 10 countries, including Türkiye. The 4 steel giants, which are close to 100 billion dollars in size, petitioned the US Department of Commerce to impose antidumping duties on corrosion-resistant flat-rolled steel imports, claiming that increased imports are harming the domestic market.
Steel producers in the US, the locomotive of the world economy, have decided to act together for the first time, abandoning competition. And for a special investigation. US steel giants have petitioned the US Department of Commerce and the US International Trade Commission to impose antidumping duties on imports of corrosion-resistant flat-rolled steel, claiming that increased imports are harming the domestic market.
The petitioning companies are Steel Dynamics, NUCOR Corporation, United States Steel Corporation (US Steel), Wheeling-Nippon Steel, Inc... Steel Dynamics, one of these giants, is the 196th largest company in the US with 13 thousand employees and a turnover of 23 billion dollars.
Another is NUCOR, the world's 16th largest steel producer with a turnover of 35 billion dollars. US Steel, the world's first billion-dollar company, has a turnover of 18 billion dollars and is the 24th largest steel producer in the world. The Japanese-owned Wheeling-Nippon Steel is the only steel company in the US that also produces zinc, aluminum and magnesium alloys. The investigation that brought these giants together is closely related to Türkiye.
They requested an investigation
These 4 giants, which have a size of approximately 100 billion dollars, have started a fight for antidumping duties against certain countries, including Türkiye.
These countries are Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, the Netherlands, South Africa, Taiwan, the United Arab Emirates, Vietnam and Türkiye. Barry Schneider, Chief Operating Officer of Steel Dynamics, which initiated the investigation, reported that imports of corrosion-resistant flat-rolled steel used in construction applications and various market sectors, such as automobile and appliance manufacturing, from these 10 countries increased to almost 2 million tons in the first half of the year, an increase from less than 1.3 million tons a year earlier.
The US administrator emphasized that under unfair trade laws, the Commerce Department must decide within 20 days whether to initiate the requested investigations, while the International Trade Commission must make a preliminary injury determination within 45 days. The 4 US companies are also working with unions in the US in this petition process.
These unions are the United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Related Industries and Service Workers International Union... Türkiye sold 127 thousand tons of steel to the US in 2021 and 155 thousand tons in 2022. The value of these tonnages was 137 million dollars in 2021 and 182 million dollars in 2022. Among the 10 countries, Canada has the highest steel sales with 1 million tons in 2022 and 1.4 billion dollars in return. The country that the US imports the least is the Netherlands with 35 thousand tons according to 2022 data.
Trump's tax was returned from the WTO
In 2018, Donald Trump, then President of the United States and currently running for the presidency, decided to impose high tariffs on imported steel on the grounds of protecting national security with the following words:
“Aluminum will now be 20 percent and steel will be 50 percent. Our relations with Türkiye are not good at this time...” In 2019, the US reduced the additional duties on steel products imported from Türkiye from 50 percent to 25 percent.
Regarding the mentioned practice, Türkiye sent its request to the US for the necessary consultations, but did not get a positive result. Türkiye had complained to the US to the WTO, stating that the decision was contrary to WTO rules. In addition to Türkiye, China, Norway, India, Russia and Switzerland also took the decision to the WTO. The World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled that former US President Donald Trump's additional tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from countries including Türkiye violated global trade rules. The three-person panel of the World Trade Organization's Dispute Settlement Mechanism announced its decision in 2022 on the appeal of Türkiye, China, Norway and Switzerland against Trump's additional tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, stating that the US measures were inconsistent with WTO rules and ruled that Trump's additional tariffs on steel and aluminum imports violated global trade rules.”
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