Trump tariffs: Higher India share in US metal imports, shows data

The Donald Trump administration’s tariffs on steel and aluminum imports in 2018 had a limited impact on India’s import share of the two metals to the United States (US).

Both metals had similar or marginally higher import share in the past 12 months compared to the year before tariffs were announced, shows a Business Standard analysis of the US trade data.

The World Trade Organization earlier this month ruled that US tariffs violated global rules. The Trump administration imposed a 25 per cent tariff on steel imports and 10 per cent on aluminum imports in 2018. Many trading partners, including China, challenged the imposition.

The share of China in US aluminium imports fell from 9.36 per cent in 2017 to 4.52 per cent in the 12 months ending November 2022. While India’s share in aluminum imports remains lower than China, it was higher in the past 12 months than in the period before the tariff imposition. It came in at 2.85 per cent in the latest numbers compared to 2.5 per cent in 2017.

China’s steel imports dipped slightly to 2.19 per cent in the latest data from 2.2 per cent share in 2017, while that of India rose marginally to 2.24 per cent from 2.17 per cent during the same period.