U.S. Plans New Tariffs on Food-Can Metal From China, Germany and Canada
International Trade Commission launched the investigation in January in response to a petition from the United Steelworkers union and Ohio-based Cleveland-Cliffs, which owns one of the few remaining tinplate plants in the U.S. They said cheap steel imports were hurting U.S. steelmakers and domestic jobs.
Food manufacturers have countered that new levies will mean higher prices for canned soups, vegetables and other products at a time when food prices have already been driven upward by inflation. China currently makes up 14% of U.S. tinplate imports.
Germany and Canada together account for roughly 30%, and the other five countries represent most of the rest. The case put the Biden administration in the middle of two conflicting policy goals. It has adopted what it calls a “worker-centric trade policy," supporting U.S.
manufacturers and union workers. At the same time, the administration doesn’t want to add any fuel to inflation, which is expected to be a point of attack for Republicans in the 2024 elections. The Consumer Brands Association, a trade group representing companies such as Campbell Soup and Fresh Del Monte Produce, estimated new tariffs, if applied aggressively, could raise the prices of canned food by up to 30%.
Citing the limited scope of the new tariffs, consumer impact will be “much less than what the studies have shown," the administration official said. She added that the high tariff rate for China was determined through a “fact-intensive investigation" and not affected by the economic rivalry between Washington and Beijing. Write to Yuka Hayashi at Yuka.Hayashi@wsj.com
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