US-based subsidiaries of Russian steelmaker NLMK Group, NLMK Indiana and NLMK Pennsylvania, signed a settlement agreement with the US government in a lawsuit challenging the refusal of the US Department of Commerce to exclude steel slabs imported by the companies from import duties and will get part of already paid duties back, NLMK said in a statement
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th November, 2020) US-based subsidiaries of Russian steelmaker NLMK Group, NLMK Indiana and NLMK Pennsylvania, signed a settlement agreement with the US government in a lawsuit challenging the refusal of the US Department of Commerce to exclude steel slabs imported by the companies from import duties and will get part of already paid duties back, NLMK said in a statement.
The company filed the claim with the US Court of International Trade on February 27. It concerned 86 applications filed in 2018 by NLMK USA to exclude steel slabs imports from Russia from duties. The US Department of Commerce denied an exemption based on objections from other US steel companies who said they could supply products required by NLMK USA. NLMK USA insisted that US manufacturers could not produce products in the required quality and quantity.
"In the settlement, without admitting that it had acted improperly, the [US] Government agreed to refund to NLMK USA a significant portion of the tariffs it had paid, with accrued interest," the company said.
The company said earlier that it had paid about $170 million in duties from which it should have been exempted.
The US introduced import duties on steel raw materials in the amount of 25 percent in 2018, citing national security reasons.
NLMK Group's assets in the US include three steel mills in Indiana and Pennsylvania able to produce 0.8 million tonnes of steel and 2.9 million tonnes of rolled steel a year.
