The US Department of Commerce and the Office of the United States Trade Representative have announced the release of the final set of products to be excluded from the Section 201 safeguard measure on steel products. The newest exclusions include various cold-rolled flat products, a wide range of hot-rolled bar products, hot-rolled flat products, plate, stainless bar and wire products, a range of corrosion-resistant products, tin mill flat rolled products, and a range of welded pipe and tube products (other than OCTG). A domestic producer has commented that the 104 of today’s 178 exclusions were made over the objections of the domestic industry. Detailed descriptions of the latest exclusions are available on the USTR website, along with background information on the steel safeguard investigation. It has been estimated that nearly one-quarter of all foreign imports are now free to enter the country under normal rules.
