Supply Chain Research

U.S. section 232 import duties, applied for national security reasons, have “helped save American jobs in steel and aluminum industries” according to U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. There will continue to be “a place for tariffs” going forward, even though that likely will continue to cause frictions with allies including the EU, Japan and South Korea. The tariffs have not yet succeeded in their primary aim of pushing steel capacity utilization in the U.S. over 80%. As of February 2021 the utilization rate was still just 75.8%. The tariffs have succeeded, however, in cutting impor...