Ruling Will Block Some Steel Tariffs

United States Steel Corp., Nucor Corp. and other U.S. steelmakers haven’t been hurt by cold-rolled steel imports, a U.S. agency ruled Tuesday, further eroding protection for an industry that has seen 23 bankruptcies since 1998.

The decision by the International Trade Commission, an independent agency that weighs the effect of imports on U.S. companies, is a setback for domestic steelmakers.

The ruling means that duties of as much as 153% proposed by the Commerce Department will not be applied to cold-rolled steel--used in such diverse products as highway guardrails and appliances--from Japan, Australia, India, Sweden and Thailand.

U.S. steelmakers were disappointed by the decision, given that they had persuaded President Bush, a supporter of free trade, to protect them from foreign competition this year by applying tariffs of as much as 30% to many steel imports.

The ruling is “flatly at odds with President Bush’s steel program and the law,” said Robert Miller, chairman and chief executive of Bethlehem Steel Corp.

U.S. steelmakers said the decision would add to their problems, which were increased after the Bush administration exempted more than 700 steel products from the tariffs the president announced in March.

Since June, almost a quarter of the products originally targeted by the tariffs have been exempted.

Leo Gerard, president of the steelworkers union, said the ruling, coupled with the large number of tariff exemptions, would “undermine the prospects of consolidation and the future for active and retired American steelworkers.”

Bush’s tariffs were opposed by U.S. steel-consuming companies and many U.S. trading partners and prompted challenges at the World Trade Organization from the European Union, Japan, China and a dozen other countries.

The exemptions came after a six-month government review that identified steel products needed by U.S. consuming industries that U.S. steelmakers weren’t able to supply.

Those exemptions may persuade the European Union, which has threatened to retaliate against the tariffs with $350 million of its own duties on U.S. products, not to act.

Tuesday’s ruling signals the same outcome is likely in another part of the case against 15 other countries, including France, Germany, China and Russia. The final vote on that complaint was postponed until October at the Commerce Department’s request.

The U.S. imported about $1 billion of cold-rolled products in 2000 from the 20 countries named in the case, representing about 5% of domestic consumption.

U.S. steel consumers welcomed the ruling.

“Most cold-rolled steel is already covered by the tariffs of up to 30%,” said Jon Jenson, president of the Consuming Industries Trade Action Coalition, an association that represents steel consumers such as Procter & Gamble Co. and Target Corp.

Those tariffs have caused cold-rolled prices to consumers to rise by as much as 75%, he said.