<article><p class="lead">The US operations of India-based steelmaker JSW Steel has filed a complaint over the US Department of Commerce's denial of its Section 232 steel tariff exclusion requests.</p><p>JSW Steel says in its filing with the US Court of International Trade that in denying JSW's requests for tariff exclusions on slab imports from India and Mexico into its US operations in Baytown, Texas, the Commerce Department "effectively abandoned the standards established by Proclamation 9705 and the Department's own regulations." It could be the first complaint of its kind filed against the Commerce Department's exemption process. </p><p>Proclamation 9705 was issued by President Donald Trump on 8 March 2018 and was the <a href="https://metals.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/1636438">initial order</a> imposing 25pc tariffs on steel imports and 10pc tariffs on aluminum imports into the US. </p><p>JSW Steel filed requests for 12 exemptions, half for steel slab imports from its operations in India and the other half for steel slab imports from ArcelorMittal's Mexico operations. The exclusion requests for imported slabs from India were <a href="https://metals.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/1892522">denied in April</a> of this year by the Commerce Department, while the Mexican imports exclusions requests were denied in May. </p><p>JSW Steel said the three US steelmakers that filed objections to its exemptions - AK Steel, Nucor and US Steel - are unable to supply the slab types it requires. The Commerce Department "undertook no effort to verify their claims, ignored the conclusive evidence that these companies are unable to produce the subject products in the required quality or quantity, and failed even to offer any reasoned basis for its decisions," JSW Steel said.</p><p>The Commerce Department declined to comment. US Steel said in an email that it would not comment on pending litigation, and would not specify if it could produce slabs in the specifications that JSW Steel said it required. Neither AK Steel nor Nucor responded to requests for comment. </p><p>JSW Steel said it requested exemptions for slab imports from India of 8-12 inches thick and widths over 70 inches, while the exemptions for slab imports from Mexico were for material of 7.8 inches, 8.8 inches, or 9.8 inches with widths over 70 inches. </p><p>US imports of blooms, billets, and slabs from Mexico in 2018 totaled 1.2mn t (1.3mn st), up from 911,000t in 2017, while 2018 imports from India were 1.1mnt, up from 835,000t from the prior year, according to data from the Commerce Department. </p><p>JSW has meanwhile made investments in the US. In October 2018, JSW <a href="https://metals.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/1778362">announced</a> that it was building a new electric arc furnace (EAF) and slab caster at its Baytown, Texas, facility that, when completed, will have a production capacity of 1mn t/yr. The company also bought the idled 1.5mn t/yr Mingo Junction EAF hot-strip mill in Ohio in March 2018 and <a href="https://direct.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/1813182?keywords=jsw%20baytown">restarted melting</a> at the facility in December 2018. </p></article>
