Steel stocks fall after Trump expands tariff exemptions

Chip
Somodevilla/Getty Images

• Steel stocks dropped after President Donald Trump
  announced that he was allowing the Commerce Department to grant
  “targeted relief” from quotas on imports from South Korea,
  Argentina, and Brazil.
• Steel stocks have been volatile this year amid Trump’s
  tariff policies.
• Watch
  United States Steel, AK
  Steel and Steel
  Dynamics trade in real-time here.

Steel stocks are getting whacked
 in
Thursday trading after President Donald Trump announced Wednesday
the Commerce Department would 
“provide targeted
relief” from quotas imposed on steel from South Korea, Argentina,
and Brazil, and aluminum from Argentina. 

Here’s the scoreboard:

“President Trump has once again shown his commitment to
American workers and businesses, protecting our national security
from the threat posed by steel and aluminum imports,” Wilbur
Ross, the Secretary of Commerce, in
a press release.

“This proclamation provides the Department the same product
exclusion authority for quotas that we already have for
tariffs.”

An existing exemption allows steel companies to apply for
product-specific exclusions and avoid tariffs if US companies
cannot meet their demand. Under Trump’s new directive, companies
can be granted quota exemptions but still have to pay a 25%
tariff if they had ordered high volumes of steel prior to the
quotas being enacted. 

Steel stocks have been volatile this year under Trump’s tariff
policies.

Back in May, steel stocks surged after Trump reiterated his
tough stance on imposing 25% and 10%
duties on steel and aluminum imported from China, and
expanded the tariff lists
to US allies including 

European
Union, Mexico, and Canada.

Shares of United States Steel are down 23% this
year; AK Steel’s are down 31% and Steel Dynamics’s are
up 2%.