President’s Steel Initiative

The Administration announced its Steel Initiative on June 5, 2001, containing three elements.  First, the President directed the USTR to request that the USITC initiate an investigation under Section 201 of the Trade Act of 1974.  Following the USITC’s finding of serious injury to the U.S. industry, in March 2002, the President imposed temporary safeguards on steel imports:  tariffs on ten steel product groups, and a tariff-rate quota (TRQ) on steel slab.  Second, the President directed the USTR, in cooperation with the Secretaries of Commerce and Treasury, to work with our trading partners to eliminate inefficient excess capacity in the steel industry worldwide.  Finally, the President directed the USTR, together with the Secretaries of Commerce and Treasury, to initiate negotiations on the rules to govern steel trade, so as to eliminate the underlying market-distorting subsidies that led to the oversupply conditions of the global steel industry in 2001.   In December 2003, President Bush concluded that the safeguard measures had achieved their purpose, and as a result of changed economic circumstances, maintaining the measures was no longer warranted.   USTR continues to work to address the root causes of distortions in the world steel market. 

Steel Import Monitoring

In his proclamation terminating the safeguards, the President continued the Administration’s steel import monitoring and analysis (SIMA) program, established in 2002 concurrently with the steel safeguards, and administered by the Department of Commerce.  The SIMA program is an easy-to use, web-based licensing system for steel imports that provides timely, clear information on the steel market and does not restrict trade.