Firms argue tariffs hurt business, seek waivers
As President Trump has pursued an America First agenda in trade, some Bay Area companies have sought exemptions to new tariffs imposed on steel and aluminum imports, seeking to protect their business from the impact of escalating tensions with global trade partners.
The U.S. government imposed tariffs on a number of categories of goods in 2018, arguing that low-priced foreign imports were unfairly subsidized. The first wave, with duties of around 30 percent, included items like solar panels and washing machines. They were followed by tariffs of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum, which officials said would spark a “broader boom in the American economy.”
In their filings for tariff exemptions, which the Commerce Department began accepting soon after the fees were first imposed, the Bay Area companies argued that the charges would affect their business.
Primrose Alloys, a metals trading firm in Burlingame, has applied for more than 2,000 tariff exemptions, citing reasons including “no U.S. production” and “insufficient U.S. availability” for the products it sells. It has received 229 tariff exemptions, been denied 246, and is awaiting approval on an additional 1,910 appli-
cations.
The company imports over 500 shipping containers of specialty metal products a year and sells in nearly every state, its website says.
For seamless instrumentation tubing, a type of steel pipe it imports from South Korea, Primrose wrote in exemption filings that “Korean tubing is reasonable cost, significantly lower than U.S. producers, offering the end user market large savings, with high quality.” Primrose did not return calls for comment.
Bus maker Gillig in Livermore received five tariff exemptions and was denied two. The company declined to comment.
Businesses across the country have filed more than 50,000 applications for exemptions from the steel and aluminum tariffs with nearly 27,000 applications pending approval, according to an Associated Press analysis of exemption requests filed with the Department of Commerce.
At least 370 companies have been granted more than 14,000 exemptions. Of the applications that have been processed, 75 percent of the companies asking for exemptions have received them. For steel in particular, the department has approved nearly 14,000 requests, with 59 percent of the total going to firms with a foreign corporate parent. More than 661 million pounds of steel imports from China have had tariffs waived, the analysis showed.
The United States is set to increase the 10 percent tariffs on Chinese goods to 25 percent March 2 if trade negotiations between the two countries come to an impasse. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a tweet Thursday that he had a “productive meeting” with Chinese trade representatives.
China was also hit with a separate 10 percent tariff on $200 billion worth of goods. The country retaliated by imposing tariffs on U.S. goods, primarily agricultural products. Tariffs have also affected large trading partners with the U.S., including the European Union, Canada and Mexico.