Tariff Update - March 22, 2018

The United States trade representative, Robert Lighthizer, said on Thursday that several American allies would initially be exempt from the steel and aluminum tariffs that are to come into effect shortly.

Speaking at a meeting of the Senate Finance Committee, Mr. Lighthizer said that the European Union, along with Argentina, Australia, Brazil and South Korea, would be exempted. Canada and Mexico were earlier left off the list of countries subject to the tariffs.

“The idea that the president has is that, based on a certain set of criteria, some countries should be out,” Mr. Lighthizer said. “What he has decided to do is pause the implementation of the tariffs in respect to those countries.”

As you can see from this statement, it is stated that the tariffs are paused, however, it does not state for how long. Our assumption is that they will be paused as negotiations continue. Our hope is that they are formally exempted from 232 sometime in April. We will continue to monitor this situation.

Please note that many other countries such as India, Malaysia, Viet Nam and China are still subject to the tariffs. The tariffs will still go into effect for countries that did not receive a pause on the implementation of the tariffs.

We feel that this is good news for Manufacturing in the United States. Please discuss with your representatives from Ulbrich if this has any impact on you.

Regards,

Your Team at Ulbrich