The U.S. Department of Commerce announced on the 19th (local time) that it has added 407 product categories subject to tariffs under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act.
The Department's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) said on its website that, "As a result, a tariff rate of 50% will be applied to the steel and aluminum content of these products."
BIS noted, "Today's actions apply to a range of products, including wind turbines and parts, mobile cranes, bulldozers, other heavy equipment, rail vehicles, furniture, compressors and pumps, and hundreds of other items."
This action is based on Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, which grants the president the authority to restrict imports through tariffs or other appropriate measures if it is determined that the import of certain items threatens national security.
Jeffrey Kessler, Vice Minister in charge of industry security at the Department of Commerce, said, "Today's actions support the continued revitalization of the U.S. steel and aluminum industry by expanding tariff applications and blocking circumvention pathways."
Due to these U.S. actions, it is anticipated that related industries in Korea will also suffer negative effects.
The Korea International Trade Association (KITA) previously reported that the newly included items subject to tariffs include refrigeration and freezing equipment, automotive parts, elevators, transformers, tractor parts and engines, wires and cables, elevators, forklift trucks, and various construction machinery.
Additionally, other automotive parts and engine components that were not previously included in the automotive parts tariff list have now been added, and KITA explained that the high aluminum content in some cosmetic containers makes the tariff impact unavoidable.
KITA particularly noted that the import amount of the newly added tariff items from Korea to the U.S. reached $11.89 billion (approximately 16.5 trillion won) based on last year's figures.