President Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminum are steps in the right direction, AK Steel Holding Corp. says, but its chief executive officer wants the administration to take a closer look at South Korea.
The country’s shipments to the U.S. of electrical steel, used as magnetic cores in electrical equipment from power generators to transformers, have increased more since the start of 2018 “than in the entire five-year period from 2012-2016,” CEO Roger Newport said in an earnings statement Monday.
The current United States–Korea Free Trade Agreement caps imports by product at 70 percent of the average of the prior three years, and AK Steel wants to the Department of Commerce to analyze whether the country has shipped more than the allowable limit.
“The high level of imports, particularly the ongoing surge of foreign electrical steel, remains a challenge and we will continue to work proactively with the Trump administration to ensure fair and appropriate trade policies,” Newport said in a statement.
Newport, who described the steel-dumping levels as “ridiculous” on an earnings call, expressed satisfaction with President Trump’s imposition of tariffs of 25 percent on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminum. The actions have fostered a broader realization that U.S. firms have been hurt by an unfair global trade environment, he said.
“When the Section 232 remedies were announced, many expressed concerns about a potential trade war,” he told investors on the call, referencing the statute that enabled the duties. “It’s a war the U.S. has been losing.”
The administration faces a May 1 deadline to determine which countries should be granted exceptions from the tariffs, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told Fox Business Network earlier on Monday that no decisions have been made.
Net income at AK Steel, based in West Chester, Ohio, fell 67 percent to $28.7 million in the quarter through March 31, even as revenue rose 8.2 percent amid higher prices.
