G20 2017: Australia secures exemption for steel from US tariff

Australia secures crucial exemption for steel exports as US considers imposing anti-dumping trade wall on imports.

Malcolm Turnbull and Mathias Cormann with Donald Trump and French president Emmanuel Macron. Source: Supplied.

Australia has secured a crucial exemption for steel exports as the US considers imposing an anti-dumping trade wall on imports following a flood of cheap steel onto the global market.

The Australian understands that Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Finance Minister Matthias Cormann had won the concession in private discussions with US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hamburg at the weekend.

The possibility that the US will impose tariffs on foreign steel companies, on the basis that the glut was hurting US steel jobs, would have affected Australia’s largest manufacturer BlueScope Steel which has significant steel exports to the US.

The US is expected to make an announcement in the coming weeks about its response to the global excess of steel, with the finger being pointed at China as the source, following the launch of in an investigation by commerce secretary Wilbur Ross.

It is understood that Mr Turnbull and Mr Cormann held private meetings in Germany with Mr Trump’s chief economic adviser Gary Cohn and Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin on the sidelines of the G20 in which they assured Australia was not their target.

It is believed that Mr Turnbull and Mr Cormann secured an pledge that Australia would be exempt from any action.

Mr Turnbull then secured further assurances in a private meeting with Mr Trump, that Australia would not be affected by any trade penalties the US might impose on steel as well as aluminium.