The removal of steel tariffs imposed on Japan by the USA during the Donald Trump era had a blow to the Turkish steel industry. Evaluating the agreement on the abolition of customs duties between the USA and Japan to the WORLD, the steelmakers emphasized that exports to the USA could decrease by 80 percent with this decision.
Under the agreement between the two countries, the United States will allow up to 1.25 million metric tons of steel imported from Japan each year to enter the country duty-free as of April 1. Turkish steelmakers exporting to the USA lost their competitiveness against Japan in this market. Stating that Turkey exported approximately 3 million tons of steel to the USA until 2018, Steel Exporters' Association (ÇİB) Vice President and Çolakoğlu Metallurgy General Manager Uğur Dalbeler said that this amount has decreased to 300 thousand tons with the taxes imposed by the USA on Turkish products. Noting that they have reached 1.2 million tons in volume and 1 billion 230 million dollars in value in 2021, Dalbeler said, “With this decision, it will be very difficult to compete in the US market. Our exports may decrease to 300 thousand tons again," he said.
Turkey is the only one left to ask for tax.
Uğur Dalbeler evaluated the developments as follows: “The decision, which was enacted by the Trump administration 4 years ago and envisaging the application of 25 percent customs duty, has lost its validity for imports from Japan as of today. The US side is negotiating with the UK besides Japan, and these talks are about to be concluded. Thus, the only country where the tax is applied will be Turkey, a 70-year-old NATO ally. We will no longer have the opportunity to export to the US market, where we had an increase last year. It is very sad that both the USA and the EU have such a hostile attitude towards Turkish steel. Previous negotiations had not yielded any results. In the light of these developments, new initiatives must be made. On the other hand, sanctions should be applied to the EU, which is not willing to compromise in any way, within the framework of reciprocity.”
Rationale national security
In 2018, the USA decided to impose tariffs of 25 percent and 10 percent on imported steel and aluminum, respectively, on the grounds of "national security". According to Commerce Department data, the U.S. imported about 1.7 million metric tons of steel from Japan in 2017 before tariffs were introduced. The country's steel imports from Japan had fallen to 1.1 million tons by 2019. In October 2021, the US reached a settlement with the EU in a dispute over steel and aluminum tariffs.
NO CHANCE TO COMPETE WITH JAPAN
Evaluating the US and Japan's agreement to remove the Trump-era steel tariffs to the WORLD, Turkish Steel Producers Association (TÇÜD) Secretary General Veysel Yayan said, "This agreement will adversely affect the exports of the Turkish steel industry." Stating that the Turkish steel industry will fall behind in the competition against Japan, Yayan said, “Japan is the second largest steel exporter in the world. It exports over 30 million tons of steel every year. With this decision, the implementation of a protective measure against Turkey has become completely meaningless. However, this decision may also cause the protectionist measures to be stretched. In the coming days, the tax imposed by the USA on Turkey may be converted into a quota," he said. In this context, stating that every step taken in terms of removing the protectionist measures is important, Yayan said: “We think that with this decision, it will lay the groundwork for the abolition of the taxes applied against Turkey. We know that the USA periodically makes a compromise with some countries and makes some stretches. We anticipate that the declarations of will by the presidents of Turkey and the USA to increase the trade between the two countries to the level of 100 billion dollars on every occasion will also contribute to the stretching of the protective measures that the USA has been implementing against Turkey. Likewise, we anticipate that the EU has taken decisions to increase the quotas in some periods and this consensus may lead to this.”
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