The US Will replace the 25 percent tariff on Japanese steel imports to the US under section 232 with a tariff quota system from April 1, the Us Department of Commerce announced On Tuesday. The US Department of Commerce said in a statement on the same day that under the tariff quota system, the US will allow Japanese steel products in the import quota to enter the US market without section 232 tariffs based on previous import data. To be specific, the U.S. set an annual import quota for 54 steel products from Japan totaling 1.25 million tons, in line with the amount of steel products the U.S. imported from Japan in 2018-2019. Japanese steel products that exceed the import quota limit are still subject to the 25 per cent “Section 232″ tariff.
According to US media reports, aluminum imports from Japan are not exempted from section 232 tariffs, and the US will continue to impose an additional 10 percent tariff on aluminum imports from Japan.In March 2018, then-US President Donald Trump imposed 25 percent and 10 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum imports for the purpose of safeguarding national security under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, which was widely opposed by the US industry and the international community, and triggered a protracted dispute between the US and its Allies over steel and aluminum tariffs. At the end of October last year, the US and the EU reached an agreement to ease the dispute over steel and aluminum tariffs. From January this year, the US began to replace the arrangement of imposing tariffs on steel and aluminum products from the EU under “Section 232″ with a tariff quota system. Some US business groups believe that the tariff quota system increases the US government’s intervention in the market, which will reduce competition and increase supply chain costs, and will have a greater adverse impact on small and medium-sized enterprises.