Canadian steel buyers racing to get imports into country through tariff exemptions

Canadian steel buyers are racing to get construction steel into the country to claim first-come, first-serve exemptions from tariffs that were meant to stabilize the country's market in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump's metals tariffs.

With steel prices already high, the companies that fabricate steel structures used in major building projects say the import controls, which cover at least 600,000 tonnes of steel, are making it even more difficult to operate because they cannot predict the price of basic materials.

The disruption is the latest consequence of Canada's response to U.S. protectionism, which has been to layer on more tariffs to protect local mills ...raising metal prices in both countries...

In late October Canada imposed a system of quotas and tariffs on seven categories of steel to prevent cheap metal from flooding into the country as Trump's tariffs forced overseas producers to seek new markets. But the first firm to get steel to a Canadian dock gets to use the tariff-free quota...

This was excerpted from 3 December 2018 edition of Thomson Reuters.