August 9, 2018

(Chicago, IL) - On Wednesday, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has released its list of approximately $16 billion worth of imports from China that will be subject to a 25% tariff as part of the U.S. response to China’s unfair trade practices related to the forced transfer of American technology and intellectual property. The list contains 279 of the original 284 tariff lines proposed, including those the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) requested for inclusion in its two separate testimonies in front of the USTR Section 301 Committee. This is the first time that tariffs have been extended beyond mill products to include fabricated structural steel, and will go into effect on August 23, 2018.

To read AISC's most recent testimony given by David Zalesne, chairman of AISC and president of Owen Steel Company, Columbia, S.C. (an AISC member and certified fabricator), click here.

Charlie Carter, president of AISC, said, "On behalf of AISC and the American structural steel industry, we appreciate USTR's willingness to listen, and commend the USTR for including fabricated steel tariff codes on the current list for action under Section 301. This is a very positive step toward protecting downstream users that have been left exposed to foreign fabricators circumventing current 232 trade actions."