WASHINGTON — Steel is threatening to become the latest area of commercial conflict between the U.S. and Mexico after a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers called on the Biden administration to restore Trump-era tariffs if necessary to stem a surge in imports.
A group of more than a dozen U.S. senators, including Republican Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Democrat Sherrod Brown of Ohio, wrote to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai last week, asking them to engage Mexico in talks over rising U.S. steel imports. They cited an almost sevenfold jump in imports of steel conduit used in construction.
The lawmakers suggest applying quotas, but raised the possibility of reimposing duties used previously by the Trump administration that were removed in May 2019.
