Among small and midsize exporters of steel and aluminum derivative products, 70.9% said "the United States' additional tariff measures do not align with the purpose of Section 232 of the U.S. Trade Expansion Act."
On the 30th, the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises (KBIZ) released a survey titled "U.S. steel and aluminum derivative product tariff-related survey of small and midsize enterprises." KBIZ conducted the survey of 600 small and midsize companies from the 9th to the 18th.
They cited as the reason that "the items are not related to U.S. national security (70.3%)." That was followed by "the possibility of increased price burdens for local consumers" at 33.6% and "insufficient self-procurement capacity, such as sluggish production in the U.S." at 19.2%.
Earlier, in June, the U.S. government sharply raised tariffs on steel and aluminum derivative products from 25% to 50%. With 407 items added to the existing list of 615 derivative products, the damage to exporting small and midsize companies is growing.
Of the 203 companies that responded that their export items were newly added to the tariff list due to the latest additional measures, 92 companies (45.3%) said they are already seeing negative effects on exports. Among them, 60.9% said "export contracts with U.S. counterparties were delayed or canceled," and 54.3% said "the tariff burden was passed on, such as through pressure to cut unit prices."
Exporting small and midsize companies said government support measures are needed to resolve difficulties. As for support measures, "revitalizing the supply of policy funds to respond to tariffs, such as interest rate cuts" was 68.5%, "preparing measures to boost orders, such as tax support for domestic-parts ordering companies" was 51.7%, and "support for reducing production costs, such as stabilizing supply chains" was 43.3%.
Chu Moon-gap, head of the economic policy division at KBIZ, emphasized, "Most of the steel and aluminum derivative products recently added to the tariff list are items unrelated to U.S. national security," adding, "Starting in September, the government and industry should join forces to actively express their views on the new additional measures to expand the tariff list of derivative products."