The import of flat rolled products to the United States in 2025 is somewhat correlated with the unsustainable increase in steel tariffs by US President Donald Trump.
The president introduced a number of measures on steel imports, which confused market participants, who were stumped by the size of tariffs depending on the country, exemptions from steel duties and the start dates of tariffs.
Final version Data provided by the U.
S. Office of International Trade for Monitoring and Analyzing Steel Imports (SIMA) shows that in January, the United States imported 922,377 tons of flat rolled steel. Some participants in the U.
S. steel market expected an increase in imports in January, as the market was preparing for higher prices and a narrowing of supply chains, which were seen as potential market threats (see Kallanish, February 11).
Other sources were less concerned about how tariff threats would affect the U.
S. steel market. Distributors in the flat-rolled market charged tariffs as a purely tactical move taken by the president (see Kallanish on March 25).
Despite efforts by the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) alliance of leaders to convince Trump not to impose tariff measures (see Kallanish November 27), on February 1, he announced that tariffs would take effect at midnight on February 2 (see Kallanish Passim).
Trump has issued 10% tariffs on Chinese imports (see Kallanish Passim) in the same executive action labeling unauthorized human crossings and fentanyl over our borders as a threat to national security. This move put pressure on the North American allies, convincing them to strengthen security measures (see Callanish passim). Late on the morning of February 2, Trump suspended tariffs on Mexico for 30 days, and a few hours later granted Canada the same deferral (see Kallanish passim). Tariffs on China have not been suspended.
In February 2025, the United States imported 736,460 tons of flat rolled steel, the lowest since November 2023, when the total was 686,427 tons, according to the same SIMA data. However, according to preliminary data from SIMA, imports of flat rolled products to the United States will increase to 749,366 tons in March.
On April 2, Trump introduced additional measures, calling them "reciprocal tariffs", - which shocked many participants in the U.
S. steel market when they learned that no additional tariffs would be imposed on all steel and aluminum imports that were already subject to tariffs under Section 232 or Section 301 measures (see Kallanish passim).
"I wasn't aware of that. I wonder how many domestic products will be available if the situation at the factories does not stabilize.", -
