Area companies with most waiver requests
6 businesses asked to forgo steel tariffs
President Donald Trump first imposed tariffs on foreign steel nearly a year ago, but companies that must import steel for their products have flooded the administration with requests for waivers from from the duties.
More requests for waivers from steel tariffs have come from Texas than any other state, with 90 percent of those requests coming from companies in the Houston area, according to the U.S. Commerce Department.
Texas accounted for about one in every five of the 43,000 waiver requests, according to Commerce Department data compiled by the Associated Press.
Houston companies seeking waivers from steel tariffs are largely high-end fabricators that use a lot of the specialty steel that is required for pipelines, drilling in the Permian Basin and elsewhere and petrochemical plants along the Gulf Coast. In many cases, the steel is not made in the United States or not available in sufficient quantity. The Commerce Department has granted 15 percent of the requests and reject 7 percent, leaving 78 percent pending.
Companies are required to make a separate waiver request to the Commerce Department for each distinct type and dimension of steel product they wish to import, accounting for the large number of requests. Here are the six companies receiving the most exemptions from tariffs in Texas in 2018. Some companies either declined to discuss the tariffs or did not respond to requests for comment. U.S. Metals of Houston, which produces highend steel piping components for refineries, petrochemical plants and power plants, received the most steel tariff exemptions in the state with 320. The Commerce Department also denied 39 of the company’s requests. There are another 57 waiver requests pending. Steve Scott, the owner of the company, said the tariffs haven’t affected their bottom line, but it has taken a significant amount of time to file for exemptions. “We’ve devoted one person to that process; that’s pretty much all they’re doing,” Scott said. “We’re passing the tariff on to our customer, and they’re passing it on to the general public.”
Marubeni-Itochu Tubulars America of Houston, a subsidiary of Marubeni-Itochu Steel of Japan that supplies steel piping to the oil and gas and petrochemical industries, received 305 waivers and has an additional 398 pending. Tubos Runidos America Inc., which is based in Madrid, Spain, but owns a division called RDT in the city of Beasley in Fort Bend County, was granted 96 exemptions and denied 291, while having 4,126 requests pending. Tenaris Coiled Tubes, which is headquartered in Luxembourg but has a facility in Houston that manufactures and supplies specialty steel pipe products, was granted 67 exemptions and has one pending. Spokeswoman Carolina Mendoza said the company could not comment as its earnings are a week away, which is during its customary quiet period. Vallourec USA Corp., which is a subsidiary of Vallourec SA, in France, and supplies tubular products for the energy industry, was granted 67 exemptions, had 14 denied and has 93 requests still pending. Douglas Polk, the VP of industry affairs, said that while he couldn’t comment on what impact the tariffs had on the company, most of the cost has been passed on to their customers. He said they have not seen a drop in orders. He said the company primarily sources steel from Europe and Brazil. Foroni Metals of Texas, which manufactures nickel and specialty allows for products that serve the oil and gas and marine industries, has had 60 waivers granted with another 87 pending. When asked to comment on the exemption, Amy Phan, who identified herself on the phone as a spokesperson for the company, said, “I cannot disclose that information.”