Tariff escape puts steelmaker at ease

SHARES in BlueScope have hit a fresh high as investors absorb the news it should escape a mooted crackdown on foreign steel imports into the United States.

Shares in the steelmaker jumped almost 1 per cent yesterday following reports the federal government had won assurances from the US that Australia would not be targeted by harsh import tariffs being considered by the US to support its industry.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Finance Minister Mathias Cormann were reas- sured Australia would be exempt from any new import tariffs by senior US officials at the G20 meeting.

BlueScope is the nation’s only steel exporter to the US, sending about $130 million of the alloy into the world’s biggest economy each year.