Metal companies seek relief from tariffs
Levies on steel, aluminum imports spur flood of exemption applications
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s tariffs on imported aluminum and steel are disrupting business for hundreds of American companies that buy those metals, and many are pressing for relief.
Hundreds of companies are asking the Commerce Department to exempt them from the 25 percent steel tariff and the 10 percent aluminum tariff.
Jody Fledderman, CEO of Batesville Tool & Die in Indiana, says American steelmakers have already raised their prices since Trump’s tariffs were announced last month. Fledderman says he may have to shift production to a plant in Mexico, where he can buy cheaper steel.
On Wednesday, a group of smalland medium-size manufacturers gathered in Washington to announce a coalition to fight the steel tariff.
The Trump administration last month imposed the tariffs on steel and aluminum, arguing that reliance on imported metals posed a threat to national security. But it promptly granted temporary exemptions to several key U.S. allies, including the European Union, Canada and Mexico.
Steel- and aluminum-consuming companies also can appeal to the Commerce Department for exemptions — provided they can show they can’t obtain the metals they need from U.S. producers. As of Tuesday, the department had received 2,180 requests for exemptions from the steel tariffs and 240 requests for relief from the aluminum tariffs.
Once the department posts the requests online, it has 90 days to reach a decision.
“It sure seems like Commerce is just drowning in exclusion requests and will struggle to burn through them,” says David Spooner, a partner at the law firm of Barnes & Thornburg and a former U.S. trade negotiator.
Commerce is reviewing the requests on a company-by-company basis instead of making acrossthe-board exemptions for individual steel and aluminum products. That approach means it will have to handle more applications.
It also raises the possibility that one company could receive an exemption while another would be forced to pay tariffs on the same product — perhaps because in the time between the two requests, domestic U.S. production has ramped up to fill shortages.
Even companies that buy only made-in-America steel complain that rising prices are squeezing their businesses. Qualtek Manufacturing Inc. in Colorado Springs, Colo., makes precision metal parts for aerospace and medical device companies. CEO Troy Roberts says rising steel and aluminum prices have already driven the annual cost of his company’s key products by $300,000, jeopardizing plans to add 14 jobs to his 74-employee staff.
He says his customers can easily divert business to foreign rivals with access to cheaper steel. The president’s decision to impose the tariffs “cuts us off at the knees,” Roberts says.