NLMK sues US Steel

NLMK believes that it has a strong case against US Steel for blocking its Section 232 tariff exemption requests using false statements.

NLMK's requests to exclude slabs were rejected under Section 232 after US Steel stated it was ready and willing to supply slabs to the domestic market.

“These statements were false,” says an NLMK spokesman. “US Steel knew that it could not and did not want to supply slabs in accordance with specifications or in the amount requested by NLMK USA. This dishonest performance was designed and intended to thwart and hinder NLMK's ability to compete with US Steel by forcing US NLMK to pay tariffs from which it should have been excluded. ”

The company is seeking $ 100 million in damages plus penalties against US Steel.

US Steel completely rejects NLMK's claims.

“Russian-owned NLMK is suing US Steel because we objected to NLMK’s demands that the US Department of Commerce exclude NLMK from paying Section 232 national security tariffs on imports of steel slabs from Russia that NLMK imports for finishing in USA, ”said the spokesman. "US Steel does not provide false information to the Department of Commerce."

In particular, US Steel disputes NLMK's assertion that it did not want or could not supply raw materials for the slabs.

“We objected to NLMK's requests for exclusion based on our ability to mine, smelt and cast steel slabs in the US - which we are currently doing and could do much more with idle blast furnaces in Michigan and Illinois. Other domestic steel producers expressed similar objections. The Department of Commerce, not US Steel, rightly rejected NLMK's repeated requests. We are committed to American manufacturing, American jobs and American steel. ”