Turkey hit with higher tariffs

The 50 percent duty on steel from Turkey took effect Monday; no word on when Trump might increase aluminum duties.    Higher tariffs on steel from Turkey took effect at 12:01 a.m. Monday, according to a proclamation issued Friday night by President Donald Trump.
   Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross advised Trump that raising Section 232 steel tariffs from 25 percent to 50 percent will be a “significant step” toward ensuring the viability of the U.S. steel industry, the proclamation says.
   The increased duty will be collected in addition to any special rate of duty applicable pursuant to existing U.S. free trade agreements or trade preference programs, the proclamation says.
   In his original announcement of the tariffs in a tweet at 8:47 a.m. Friday, Trump cited Turkish currency devaluation as the reason for the raised tariffs, but the proclamation doesn’t mention anything about devaluation of the Turkish lira.
   Trump signaled in another Tweet on Friday evening that he might choose to break from protocol with regard to potentially imposing tariffs on Canadian automobiles, raising that possibility if the U.S. and Canada can’t reach a deal. The Commerce Department is currently leading a Section 232 investigation into U.S. automobile imports, which can lead to tariffs or other import measures only if the executive branch determines that they pose a national security threat.
   Trump also said in the Turkey tweet that U.S. relations with Turkey “are not good at this time,” after the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative earlier last week had announced it was reviewing Turkey’s eligibility for the Generalized System of Preferences based on concerns regarding the nation’s market access for U.S. products.
   U.S. Customs and Border Protection in a CSMS message on Sunday said importers now must report Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) Subheading 9903.80.02 for the 50 percent ad valorem duty rate for iron and steel products imported from Turkey, in addition to reporting the regular classification for such goods under HTS chapters 72 and 73.
   The White House proclamation says that domestic steel capacity utilization has improved but is still below the target capacity that Ross recommended in his Section 232 report on steel submitted to the White House in January.
   “Although imports of steel articles have declined since the imposition of the tariff, I am advised that they are still several percentage points greater than the level of imports that would allow domestic capacity utilization to reach the target level,” Trump said in the proclamation.
   Turkey is among the major exporters of steel to the United States for domestic consumption, notes the proclamation.
   “Since the imposition of the Section 232 tariff in March, exports to the United States have declined and domestic capacity utilization has increased, but not to levels sufficient to remove the threat to national security,” Ross said in a statement Friday evening. “Doubling the tariff on imports of steel from Turkey will further reduce these imports that the [Commerce] Department found threaten to impair national security as defined in Section 232.”
   Trump’s Friday morning tweet also noted his intent to increase aluminum duties from 10 percent to 20 percent, but no proclamation has been issued to activate a higher duty rate for that metal, and the White House didn’t respond to a request for comment about when that might happen.