The country’s leading steel company said over the weekend a proposal by the United States to slap 25-percent duties on imported steel and 10 percent on aluminum will have no direct impact on the Philippines.
SteelAsia Manufacturing Corp., the country’s largest steel company and the largest producer of rebars in Southeast Asia, said the proposal would not impact on the Philippines’ steel trade.
“The Philippines is not a big trading partner of the US for steel. So, there will be no direct impact,” said SteelAsia president Adrian Cristobal Jr.
He said indirectly, the new policy could divert commodity steel products from the US market to other markets including Asia.
US President Donald Trump said the new tariffs on steel and aluminum were aimed at China, as part of ramped up efforts to clamp down on dumping and unfair subsidies of foreign goods sold in the US.
“We don’t believe there will be supply issues for construction steel as a result of the new US policy,” said Cristobal. SteelAsia supplies the country with 2 million metric tons of reinforced bars annually.