NLMK USA asks court to rule on import tariff exemption for steel slab

The United States division of Russia-based steelmaker NLMK Group have filed a complaint this week with the US Court of International Trade, claiming wrongful denial of exemption for its imports of steel slab from the 25% tariff imposed under Section 232.

NLMK USA, which comprises NLMK Indiana and NLMK Pennsylvania, has been requesting since March 2018 that Russia-origin slab be declared exempt from the import tariffs applied under Section 232 of US trading law.
The US Department of Commerce, however, has denied almost all of the steelmaker's requests for such an exclusion.
"To fill the overwhelming majority of its customers' orders, NLMK USA requires 250mm-255mm thick slab (nominally '10-inch'), which it has not been able to source domestically because none of the [US-based] objectors [to such an exemption] is capable of casting slabs with this thickness," the company said in a press release published on Monday March 2.

"With respect to thinner slabs, which account...

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