While the steel industry welcomed steel tariffs, some expressed concern over rising prices and ports court steel industry.
The two-day steel conference, Global Steel Dynamics Forum (GSDF) 2025, was held in New York amid the national debate on steel tariffs. The conference, organized by the American Iron & Steel Technology (AIST) and the World Steel Dynamics (WSD), had a large turnout of US and foreign steel producers, suppliers of materials and services to the steel industry, executives of ports handling steel shipments, etc.
But the steel industry’s 2025 outlook will be influenced by tariffs and global market dynamics, as industry pundits predict. “Tariffs, now raised to 50% on imported steel, aim to protect domestic producers but can lead to increased prices for consuming industries reliant on steel,” one executive of a US company using imported steel for its products replied when asked if his company would reduce or stop purchases of foreign steel.
Indeed, effective June 4, tariffs on steel and aluminum imports into the U.S. have doubled from 25% to 50% for all countries except the UK. Foreign suppliers and domestic industries importing steel for their products face rising costs.
President Donald Trump’s tariffs on imported steel have generated considerable uncertainty among both foreign suppliers and US corporations that rely on foreign steel for their products. Global economic conditions, including inflation and supply chain disruptions, could impact overall steel prices and availability.
US Steel Producers Support Tariff Increase
Unsurprisingly, US steel producers and others connected with it generally support Trump’s latest 50% steel tariffs aimed at “protecting the domestic industry and jobs, while preventing the dumping of heavily subsidized steel produced with considerable pollution” in the US.
Lourenco Goncalves, Cleveland-Cliffs Inc.’s CEO, defending President Trump’s 50% tariffs on steel imports, said that the higher tariff rate would encourage Canada and Mexico to stop US-bound foreign steel transshipments.
At the GSDF event, Goncalves recalled that Trump’s previous use of Section 232 tariffs did not produce the desired outcome, with foreign suppliers continuing to sell steel to the US by resorting to transshipments through Canada and Mexico, which together with the US are members of the USMCA trading bloc. The increased tariff would make the trading partners act and, so far, “it seems to be working”.
“I believe there is a real chance that if things go the way they’re going (we could) re-fence North America. And then you can have a real USMCA that’s functional with melted and poured rules in place, and not as a transshipment ground,” the Cleveland-Cliffs’ CEO said.
However, some buyers were saying that while the goal of Trump’s tariffs was to protect the US domestic industry and jobs, they perceived tariffs as a bargaining chip in negotiating the new trade agreements with supplying countries.
Ports Court Industry at GSDF
The Port of Brownsville in Texas, located near the river mouth of the Rio Grande and Lower Rio Grande Valley plain, just eight miles north of the Mexico-U.S. border, handles large volumes of steel, whose cargo comprises, mainly, steel, liquid bulk products, aggregates, and project cargo.
According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ annual report, the Port of Brownsville handled more than 11.2 million tons of cargo in 2023, up 23% from 9.1 million tons in 2022.
The Port recorded 2,561 vessel calls in 2023, a 46% increase in vessel traffic from 1,754 the previous year. Major commodities driving growth at the port include steel, liquid bulk products, aggregates, project cargo, and wind turbine components imported from various countries.
“Indeed, we have several infrastructure projects, including the largest liquid natural gas project at the port itself … while all the West Coast ports are Asia-centric, we are Mexico-centric,” Arturo Gomez, deputy port director of operations at the Port of Brownsville, said in an interview with the American Journal of Transportation.
Asked if the Port had experienced any disruptions in steel shipments, as experienced by West Coast ports, Gomez said that there had been “some disruptions, but not to the extent we had feared”.
The Port is, meanwhile, planning to expand its shipping activities to other countries in the region and even to Europe which had seen strong LNG demand following the Russia-Ukraine war, driving Europeans to seek alternative LNG sources.
“We import about four million tons of cargo from Brazil, mainly steel slabs, and will be handling three million tons of iron ore from that country in the future.” Discerning a “sense of optimism” in the steel industry, he said that protectionism was seen by many as “a defense against abuses”. The message being sent is that this is done to protect the domestic steel industry.
The Port of Brownsville, the only deep-water seaport directly on the U.S.-Mexico border, handles more steel transshipments than any other US port; the region is home to energy, shipbuilding, and ship-recycling industries, and is ranked 41st among the top 150 US maritime ports for waterborne cargo, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Another port represented at the GSDF was Corpus Christi. The President/CEO of Corpus Christi Regional Economic Development Corp., Mike Culbertson, promoted his region’s “unique strengths”, highlighting the advantages of the Corpus Christi Port, the nation’s fourth largest deep-water facility with international access, major rail connections to the US and Mexico, besides being home to Steel Dynamics, Cheniere, Exxon Mobil/Sabic, etc.
Culbertson told this correspondent that his agency attracted investors from the U.S. and around the world. “We offer cheap natural gas and deep-water port,” he said, adding that the region offers tax abatement rising to as much as 100% when construction is carried out at the site.
“Tariffs have not yet impacted traffic, but we have seen a slowdown in projects,” he said.
Another agency participating in the GSDF was the Vicksburg Warren Economic Development Partnership (VWEDP) which also includes the Warren County Port of Vicksburg, Mississippi. The Port ranks as the 15th largest inland port in the US, based on million tons transported.
The Port is a designated Foreign Trade Zone, Port of Entry, and maintains a US Customs Service to process cargo from as far as Australia and Japan, according to Pablo Diaz, the VWEDP President/CEO.
“The Port of Vicksburg provides rail, barge, and truck services … and also connects with the deep-water Port of New Orleans for access to the Gulf of Mexico. The Port handles a variety of bulk and break-bulk materials including steel, aluminum, ores, fertilizers, pellets, chemicals, etc. Our truck traffic alone exceeds 250,000 trucks annually,” Diaz said in an interview. Steel producers, he said, appreciated the port’s development, as also the incentives and attractive conditions offered to set up steel mills in the region.
Participants privately told the American Journal of Transportation that domestic steel prices could likely rise significantly as imports become more expensive, and supply tightens. US mills may increase production, but capacity constraints suggest they cannot fully meet the rising demand. US steel consuming industries would face inflationary pressures.
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