A South Korean steel product has been exempted from U.S. tariffs for the first time since Washington imposed an import quota on South Korean steel in May.
According to industry sources, the U.S. Commerce Department on Monday this week, accepted a request from American medical equipment maker Micro Stamping to exclude superfine stainless steel tubes made by South Korea’s SL Tech.
SL tech is a precision stainless steel tube manufacturing company that supplies products to the medical, sanitary and hi-tech industries, including for use in injection needles.
It marks the first exemption since May’18 when U.S. set a yearly import quota of two-point-63 MnT for South Korean steel products, or 70% of their average export volume over the past three years.
Import quotas are limitations on the quantity of products that can be imported into a country during a specified period of time.
Initially, U.S. didn’t allow tariff exemptions for South Korean steel exports as it imposed an import quota instead of applying 25% tariffs. However, in late August, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order that allows case-by-case exemptions for steel imports from South Korea, Argentina and Brazil depending on the situation of the U.S. steel industry.
South Korea’s commerce ministry and steelmakers have been making concerted efforts to obtain more exemptions from the American government. As per the industry experts, with this latest U.S. move, more South Korean steel companies are likely to ramp up efforts to cooperate with their U.S. customers to seek tariff exemptions.
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