Latin American Steel Association Alacero has expressed concerns regarding the US government’s announcement to raise tariffs on steel imports to 50 percent under Section 232, “a decision that further worsens the outlook for international steel trade”.
Such measures are far from solving global challenges stemming from steel excess capacity, mainly attributable to China and other Southeast Asian economies, and they weaken the regional value chains that have been built over decades between Latin America and the US, Alacero noted.
According to Alacero, Latin America does not pose a threat to the US market. Some countries in the region actually receive more steel from the United States than they export to it, making this measure even more unjustifiable. In fact, countries such as Mexico and Brazil supply critical segments of US industrial demand that cannot be met locally in the short term.
Alacero wants to build a regional supply chain between Latin America and the United States to enhance the competitiveness of both regions against “unfair trade practices such as market-distorting subsidies and Asian overproduction, which harm the stability and development of the regional steel industry”. “Just as in 2018, we believe we can demonstrate to the US government that the best strategy is to lower tariffs on Latin American countries” the association said.