7 hours Ago By Korea Bizwire
Steel products are piled up at a port in Pyeongtaek, about 65 kilometers south of Seoul, on March 11, 2025, a day before the U.S. government’s 25 percent tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports kick off.
(Image courtesy of Yonhap) SEOUL, March 12 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean steelmakers are facing new and tough challenges in the U.S. market as the U.
S. government was set to start imposing tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports from Wednesday. U.
S. President Donald Trump has announced a wide range of levies on some of his country’s trading partners since taking office in January. Among them are 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum imports scheduled to kick off at 1:01 p.
m. Wednesday (Korea time). In response to the steep tariffs, Korean steel firms, including POSCO and Hyundai Steel Co.
, said they will closely cooperate with the government and develop more high-end products to maintain their share in the U.S. market.
“The company will put a bigger focus on developing value-added products and cutting manufacturing costs further to secure an ‘unrivaled’ competitiveness despite rapidly changing external market conditions,” a POSCO spokesperson said over the phone. POSCO has said it is considering building a steel plant in the United States to cope with the tariffs. Hyundai Steel said the U.
S. tariffs will have a negative impact on domestic steelmakers in the mid- to long-term. Steelmakers are concerned that the hefty tariffs may significantly affect their price competitiveness in the U.
S. market compared with local rivals, such as United States Steel Corp. In late February, South Korean officials requested an exemption from the tariffs on steel and aluminum during their visit to Washington, but to no apparent avail.
Seoul’s responses to the Trump administration’s latest tariff plans have been affected by political turmoil sparked by President Yoon Suk Yeol’s brief martial law imposition in December. Under the South Korea-U.S.
free trade agreement (FTA), almost all tariffs between the two countries have already been eliminated. During his first term, Trump imposed 25 percent and 10 percent tariffs, respectively, on all steel and aluminum imports to the U.S.
in 2018, citing national security concerns. At the time, the U.S.
waived the tariffs on South Korean steel products in exchange for a yearly import quota of 2.63 million tons, which accounted for about 70 percent of Seoul’s average export volume between 2015 and 2017. Once the new tariffs are imposed, the quotas will be immediately abolished.
The U.S. also plans to impose a 25 percent import tariff on 166 steel and aluminum derivative products.
Tariffs on 87 derivative items containing steel and aluminum have been temporarily deferred until a notice from the U.S. Department of Commerce.
“With the removal of the 70 percent quota (for Korean firms), we will draw up a new export strategy. We will be able to selectively ship our products to the U.S.
market,” a Hyundai Steel spokesperson said. South Korea was the fourth-largest exporter of steel to the U.S.
last year, accounting for 9 percent of Washington’s steel imports, according to data from the U.S. International Trade Administration (ITA).
The country was also the fourth-biggest exporter of aluminum to the U.S., taking up about 4 percent of the U.
S.’ aluminum imports. As of 11:15 a.
m., shares in POSCO Holdings, the holding company of POSCO Group, had jumped 3.54 percent to 307,000 won, but Hyundai Steel had risen 0.
18 percent to 28,500 won. The broader Korea Stock Price Index (KOSPI) had risen 1.5 percent.
In spite of planned tariffs, the steel stocks jumped on the possibility of their joining the Trump government’s natural gas pipeline project in Alaska, analysts said. Trump mentioned South Korea and Japan as countries interested in the “gigantic” project during his address to a joint session of Congress last week. (Yonhap).
