Trump announces cut to 2020 quota on steel imports from Brazil

Bloomberg

President Donald Trump is cutting the cap on allowable steel shipments from Brazil, citing a slump in the US market.
In a proclamation, Trump amended a previous decision under so-called Section 232 national security powers to lower the cap on allowable imports. The limits were set in 2018 as part of a deal between the nations to avoid tariffs that Trump applied to other countries.
Trump cited a slumping American steel market, which has only accelerated amid shutdowns spurred by the coronavirus pandemic. “Imports from most countries have declined this year in a manner commensurate with this contraction, whereas imports from Brazil have decreased only slightly,” he said in the proclamation.
The US will, for the remainder of 2020, lower the cap “applicable to certain steel articles imported from Brazil.” The proclamation didn’t specify which ones, and the US will allow exemptions in certain cases. The new limits come after talks with Brazil, which faced the threat of a 25% tariff.
“The United States and Brazil will hold further consultations in December 2020 to discuss the state of the steel trade between the two countries in light of then-prevailing market conditions,” the president said. Brazil’s annual cap will revert to its previous level in 2021 “unless that limit is further modified or terminated.”
Domestic benchmark steel prices are down 12% this year as the coronavirus pandemic has crushed demand in everything from appliances to automobiles to construction. American steel executives said this week at one of the industry’s largest conferences in North America that a recovery to pre-pandemic levels is still probably a year or two off.