U.S. slaps steel tariffs on Brazil, India, Korea, and the United Kingdom

Brazil, India, Korea, Russia and the United Kingdom sent $514 million worth of cold-rolled products to U.S. ports in 2014. 

The ITC voted 5-1 last week in favor of tariffs on Brazil, India, Korea, and the United Kingdom. But it voted 6-0 to reject tariffs on Russia, after finding it sent a negligible amount of steel to the United States. The four other countries face duties of 58.36 percent or more, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Customs officials already have been collecting the tariffs and the final decision the ITC made locks the rates in.

ArcelorMittal, U.S. Steel Corp., Fort Wayne-based Steel Dynamics Inc. and other U.S. steelmakers requested the tariffs last year amid a global import crisis when imports captured a record 29 percent of the market share, more than in the early 2000s, when more than 30 American steelmakers went bankrupt.

Steelmakers responded with layoffs, including more than 1,000 in Northwest Indiana last year. The effects continue to be felt, with the recent layoffs of about 75 maintenance workers and pay cuts for more than 200 more at U.S. Steel Gary Works.

So far, the company's have secured duties of more than 500 percent for imported steel products from China and other countries. The United States is also imposing new tariffs on hot-rolled steel, corrosion-resistant steel and structural tubing.