US steel tariffs: India not to be impacted much, says industry

India will not be much impacted by the US government's plans to impose hefty import tariff although there would be serious repercussions on international trade in the sector, industry today said.
US President Donald Trump had said last week that he has decided to impose 25 per cent import tariff on steel.
"In India it would not have significant impact as of its total steel imports, US imports only 2 per cent from India and the market for steel consumption in India is growing," Sanak Mishra, former Managing Director, SAIL's Rourkela Steel Plant told PTI.
According to Essar Steel, the US decision to levy tariff across board on steel products is not compliant with WTO regulations.

"Invoking Section 232 is far-fetched," H Shivram Krishnan, Director - Commercial, Essar Steel told PTI.
This measure, if approved by the President, will have serious repercussions on international steel trade.

"India exports constitutes less than one percent of total imports of US. The exports of European countries to US will be majorly impacted and this can affect Indias exports to Europe and other countries," Krishnan said.
The IMF has also warned that the US plans to impose heavy tariffs on import of steel and aluminium would cause damage not only outside the US, but also impact the American economy.
The decision will damage its manufacturing and construction sectors, which are major users of aluminium and steel, IMF spokesman Gerry Rice had said.

Former SAIL chairman Sushil Kumar Roongta said that the move may impact some of India's steel exports to the US.
More importantly, he added, it may trigger retaliatory measures by other countries which may lead to disruption in global steel trade or adversely impact the global steel trade.