Final Thoughts
February 24, 2019
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
The Bureau of Industry and Security today denied the exclusion exemptions for two mills: California Steel Industries and Evraz. At this point, we are expecting the NLMK USA and JSW USA exclusion requests to be denied as well. However, a trade attorney (not Lewis) suggested that we not move too fast with any proclamations. There are some interesting circumstances associated with the JSW request. JSW, unlike the other re-rollers, is in the process of building a new EAF at their Baytown, Texas, plate and pipe plant and they just refurbished an idle EAF at Mingo Junction facilities. The Mingo Junction EAF is producing slabs for their hot strip mill and has been up and running for a couple of months now. NLMK also owns a mill that produces steel for their Portage, Ind., facility, and they are buying slabs from U.S. Steel.
Today, I recruited another attorney to be on our trade panel for the 2019 SMU Steel Summit Conference. Alan Price of Wiley Rein LLP, a firm that represents the domestic steel industry, will join Phil Bell, president of the Steel Manufacturers Association, and trade attorney Lewis Leibowitz along with one yet-to-be-named panelist. I am looking at this panel to be in a debate format as opposed to long statements. There will be much to cover regarding trade when we get to late August. About the only thing that’s sure about trade and trade policy – expect the unexpected.
