The US Supreme Court's decision to strike down some of president Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs could erase import taxes on some steelmaking inputs — including pig iron, direct reduced iron and European ferrous scrap — should Trump not reimpose threatened global 10pc tariffs.
Trump on Friday afternoon said he would impose 10pc global tariffs in retaliation after the Supreme Court rescinded a slew of tariffs hours earlier, adding that he was considering imposing new tariffs under sections 232, 122, 201, 301 or 330. Trump said an executive order would come by the afternoon, but none was available by the late afternoon.
Global steel imports remain tariffed at 50pc through section 232 national security tariffs, with the exception of imports from the UK, tariffed at 25pc.
Imports of ferrous scrap and iron metallics from Mexico and Canada have been exempt from Trump's wide-ranging tariffs, so the Supreme Court's decision on Friday afternoon will not directly affect flows from those two nations to the US.
It is unclear how the White House will unwind the reciprocal tariffs.
Pig iron
US steelmakers began paying 10pc tariffs on pig iron imports from Brazil and Ukraine — the top seaborne suppliers of the commodity — in May as part of Trump's "reciprocal" tariffs that have now been nullified by the Supreme Court.
The US imported 2.3mn metric tonnes (t) of pig iron from Brazil in May-December 2025, steady from the same prior-year period, US customs data shows. US steelmakers imported 857,000t from Ukraine in the same period, up by 62pc from 2024.
Should the tariffs be completely removed, electric arc furnace steelmaker Nucor will no longer have to pay a 10pc import tax on direct-reduced iron shipments from its Trinidad plant. The North Carolina-based steelmaker shipped 971,000t to US ports from its Trinidad plant from May-December, steady from the same period a year earlier, according to customs data.
Ferrous scrap
US steelmakers occasionally buy bulk cargoes of #1 busheling from the UK and Europe, which were tariffed at 10pc and 15pc rates, respectively, under Trump's import tax scheme.
Those shipments will flow tariff-free into the US, if the Supreme court's decision is upheld, providing major steelmakers a more affordable outlet to supplement domestic scrap shipments.
US imports of ferrous scrap from the UK totaled 72,000t from May-December 2025, up by 2pc from the previous-year period.Imports from EU nations were 81,000t during that period, down by more than half from the same time in 2024, according to US trade data.
Tariffs have cost mills $225mn
Blanket US import tariffs cost US steelmakers $225mn between May-December 2025 for seaborne steel feedstocks and ferrous scrap shipments, an Argus analysis of import data found.
The White House imposed 10pc import tariffs on most countries in early April 2025, which raised the cost of imported ferrous scrap, pig iron, and direct reduced iron (DRI) integral to US flat-rolled electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmakers. Material on the water prior to the implementation of the tariff were exempt, but to simplify the calculation Argus computed the costs from May onward.
Argus excluded steel feedstocks and ferrous scrap imports from Canada and Mexico because they are exempt from the tariffs under the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement.
US steelmakers during this period imported 12.7mn t of steel feedstocks and ferrous scrap at a declared value of $2.23bn, Argus analysis of US customs data show.
The government collected the largest portion of tariff revenue on pig iron imports which totaled $146mn, followed by DRI at $40mn, iron pellets at $31mn and ferrous scrap at $8mn.
Some electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmakers have brushed aside the bottom-line impacts of the tariffs because of diversified raw materials sourcing strategies and other US trade policies supporting the steel industry.
Any lifting of the tariffs would likely cause a reshuffling of raw materials prices as steelmakers and producers on some goods, namely pig iron, absorbed a large portion of the added costs into spot pricing earlier this year.
