S. Trade Representative (USTR) to avoid imposing an additional 25 percent import duty on the Brazilian product.
In early June, Brazilian pig iron was removed from the list of exempt raw materials subject to 25 percent import duties under previous Section 301 rules, effectively disrupting long-established trade flows between the United States and Brazil, media reported.
Combined with the current 10 percent Brazilian import tariff, the final duty could reach 37.5 percent, says Sindifer president Fausto Varela, at a level that would force more than half of the state's pig iron producers to suspend operations, temporarily or permanently.
According to Varela, the state of Minas Gerais will be heavily affected by the high import tariff, as 48 independent producers and 63 blast furnaces are located here, accounting for 70 percent of Brazilian pig iron production and more than 80 percent of exports of which are destined for steel producers in the United States.
At the same time, Sindifer is seeking financial assistance from the tax authorities and is asking the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to negotiate a postponement of the new tariffs if they are eventually introduced later in July.
In 2025, the United States imported 3.365 million tons of pig iron from Brazil, equivalent to 83 percent of the country's total exports of these products.
Brazilian cast iron is indispensable for the U.
S. steel industry, not only because of its competitive price compared to traditional scrap used in modern electric arc blast furnaces in modern steel production, but also because the country's independent producers use charcoal as a reducing agent (reducing agent) in their blast furnaces, resulting in "close to zero" net CO2 emissions.
When charcoal comes from planted forests, the CO2 emissions generated in blast furnaces are offset by the CO2 absorbed by the next generation of trees.
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