Washington – US officials in Washington DC announced that the US Department of Commerce will issue a detailed publication on 18 March, which will include the measures that any country must take to appeal against US President Donald Trump’s decision to impose dumping duties on imported iron to America, which includes Egypt.
The sources pointed out that Egypt will appeal the decision, pointing out that Egyptian Minister of Industry and Trade Tarek Kabil is currently working to exclude Egypt from the tariffs, criticising President Trump’s decision to include all countries without distinction between volumes of exports.
The sources confirmed that Egypt’s total export of iron to the United States does not exceed $100m, which is comparatively low.
Last week, Trump issued a decision to impose tariffs of 10% on imports of aluminium and 25% on steel from China and 11 other countries, including Egypt, citing reasons of national security.
The sources pointed out that there were three scenarios presented by the US Department of Commerce to Trump, which were imposing quotas on imports from all countries of the world; imposing additional customs duties on all imports of steel from all countries of the world, aside from other duties, including dumping duties; or imposing additional customs duties on steel imports from some countries, but Trump chose the most severe scenario. “Trump may seek, from this move, to obtain concessions from some countries to be excluded,” the sources said.
The total exports of Egyptian steel products to the US market do not exceed 0.5% of US steel imports, through two companies in Egypt that export steel plates and reinforcing steel, namely Ezz Steel and Kandil Steel. According to official data, Egypt’s exports of steel products to the US market does not exceed 173,000 tonnes out of the 34m tonnes the US imports in total.
In another context, the sources revealed that the US government is seeking to negotiate with Egypt to introduce new Egyptian products within the scope of the (Qualifying Industrial Zone) QIZ agreement, which mostly includes garments, noting that there are attempts to introduce technology and leather products within the agreement.
With regard to the reduction of the Israeli component in the QIZ agreement from 10.5% to 8.5%, the sources said that this is not currently on the table.
