Steel Importer NLMK Sues US Steel Over Section 232 Exclusion Objections
Russian steel company NLMK filed a lawsuit against U.S. Steel alleging the Pittsburgh-based company misled the Department of Commerce when it objected to the Section 232 exclusion requests filed by NLMK. The company filed the complaint in a Pennsylvania state court Jan. 22 and is seeking more than $100 million in damages for unfair competition. NLMK previously reached a settlement with the government over what it said was improperly denied exclusion requests (see 2010200029).
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
If your job depends on informed compliance, you need International Trade Today. Delivered every business day and available any time online, only International Trade Today helps you stay current on the increasingly complex international trade regulatory environment.
NLMK has submitted 162 requests for exclusions since 2018, largely for its 10- and 8-inch steel slab imports, it said. NLMK said its exclusion requests were all fully or partially denied on the word of U.S. companies such as U.S. Steel that said they could meet foreign supply subject to the tariffs. The Russian company said U.S. Steel does not have a single domestic facility capable of making any 10-inch steel slab and that it provided NLMK with only a fraction of the requested 8-inch slabs it attempted to order through U.S. Steel. The objections from U.S. Steel have resulted in NLMK paying “$200 million in tariffs on imported slabs it ordered to satisfy purchase orders, and will continue to pay substantial tariffs to import slab to make products that compete with U.S. Steel,” it said.
Due to “U.S. Steel's dishonest and unfair behavior, NLMK was wrongly forced to pay substantial tariffs from which it was entitled to exclusions, which negatively impacted NLMK's ability to compete with U.S. steel, interfered with NLMK's business relationships and caused NLMK to sustain significant disruption and harm to its business, including lost profits, lost contracts, and lost investment opportunities,” NLMK said in the complaint. A lawyer for NLMK declined to comment on whether the company will bring any additional lawsuits against other companies that objected to the tariff exclusion requests.
A U.S. Steel spokesperson said that while the company doesn't usually comment on pending litigation, it will in this case,“since NLMK is challenging the very principles we live by.” The spokesperson said: “U.S. Steel does not provide the Department of Commerce false information. We objected to NLMK’s exclusion requests based on our ability to mine, melt, and pour steel slabs in the U.S.A. -- which we currently do and could do much more with idled blast furnaces in Michigan and Illinois. Other domestic steelmakers made similar objections. The Department of Commerce -- not U.S. Steel -- rightfully denied NLMK’s repeated requests.”
“In its objections to NLMK's requests, U.S. Steel specifically represented to the Department that it could produce 'the entire spectrum of grades and dimensions of steel slabs identified in NLMK's requests and has significant excess production capacity and is able to meet 100% of the volume cited' in NLMK's exclusion requests,” NLMK detailed in its complaint. “This was simply not true.”
Email ITTNews@warren-news.com for a copy of the compliant.