Germany and the Netherlands receive significant quotas on steel exports to the United States

Germany and the Netherlands gained the rights to substantial quotas for US steel exports on January 1, 2022, after the US ended its current Section 232 import tariff regime on EU steel in a bilateral deal, according to documents posted on the website. United States Department of Commerce website. The Swedish and Austrian quotas are also considered to be clearly favorable for some products.

Germany's largest steel producer in the EU has received the lion's share of the region's total annual tariff quotas, or TRQs, for US exports of 3.33 million tonnes. According to the listing, Germany will be eligible to export a total of 907,893 tons of a wide range of products. Its quotas include 121,185 tons of tinplate per year, 86,221 tons of cut sheets and 85,676 tons of line pipes with an outer diameter of over 406.4 mm.

Italy, the second largest steel producer in the EU, with total quotas of 360,477 tons, was significantly behind Germany, behind the Netherlands in total quotas of 507,598 tons. The Netherlands is home to Tata Steel's largest steel mill in Ijmuiden, a traditional hot coil exporter to the United States.

The Netherlands' annual quota for the sale of hot-rolled sheet in the US is set at 122,529 tons, hot-rolled sheet in coils - 72,575 tons and tinplate - 195,794 tons.

The TRQ system will replace the existing 25 percent tariff that former US President Donald Trump imposed on EU steel imports under section 232 legislation in March 2018. TRQ's cumulative annual imports are set at 3.3 million tonnes across 54 product categories and allocated to the US Department of Commerce said this is the basis of an EU member state in line with the 2015-2017 historical period.

“Unbundling is a simple calculation that brings TRQ closer to traditional EU export flows to the US (by member country),” said a spokesman for the European Steel Association Eurofer.

However, section 232 tariffs continue to be imposed by the United States on steel imports from other countries and regions, although bilateral negotiations are under way between the United States and Japan on an alternative trade agreement.