WASHINGTON � As the Trump administration barrels ahead with its plan to apply stiff tariffs on imported metals starting Friday, governments and businesses around the world are in a fog about what is happening and are bracing for at least a short-term hit because of what many criticize as the administration's slapdash process.
When President Donald Trump announced the tariffs March 8 _ 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum _ he exempted Mexico and Canada, at least temporarily, and said other nations could negotiate with the White House to get out of paying duties on tens of billions of dollars' worth of imports.
But the administration still has not spelled out in any detail what trading partners must do to secure a country exemption. And with just a few days before the tariffs take effect, the void has left many companies and governments confused, frustrated and concerned that the trade action could spiral into a global crisis.
Trade ministers from Europe and other countries have been seeking to meet with Trump officials in recent days, even as they and business groups in the U.S. and abroad have been waiting for the administration to clarify what it will take for nations to get tariff exemptions.
"If we want to negotiate something, we need more time," said Gabriel Felbermayr, director of Ifo Center for International Economics in Munich. Some people in Germany, he said, are so baffled by what's happening that they hope the whole undertaking by Trump can be postponed.
"The entire process, the tone, time schedules _ all these elements _ are annoying people here and harming the image of the United States in an unnecessary fashion," he said.
It isn't winning fans at home, either. Late Sunday night, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross announced procedures on how U.S.-based importers or users of foreign steel and aluminum could apply for tariff waivers on specific products that may not be available domestically. In the past, companies have been able to get product waivers before such tariffs were implemented.
That's impossible this time. It was only Monday that an online form was made available for companies to file for product exclusions, and the Commerce Department said it would take 90 days to review the detailed applications _ meaning that U.S.-based car producers, appliance-makers and other companies will have to pay the tariffs and hope that they will be reimbursed if they later receive exemptions.
"There's just too many questions on retroactivity," said Brett Guge, an executive vice president at California Steel Industries, which processes imported steel from Brazil, Mexico and Japan. Guge said his company will work on the product-exclusion application this week. "It is what it is, as far as the timeline," he said. "Doesn't matter what we think. We don't have a lot of time."
In issuing the tariffs, Trump moved to fulfill a campaign promise to aid domestic steelworkers and get tough on trade rivals, whom the president blames for America's industrial and economic troubles. He surprised his staff in previewing the tariffs March 1, saying they would apply to all countries, only later to temporarily exclude Canada and Mexico on the condition that they renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement to Trump's satisfaction.
Trump charged ahead with the tariff orders, which were justified on the basis of national security, even before his administration could prepare the necessary rules and procedures for countries and companies seeking exemptions for steel and aluminum products.
Trump assigned his chief trade official, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, to negotiate requests from other countries for exemptions. But there's been little information released on what the Lighthizer's office seeking, beyond the tariff proclamation's general clause indicating that a country must provide a "satisfactory" alternative.
On Monday, the trade representative's office declined to comment on whether such clarifying rules are coming. Nor would it confirm that Australia had been granted a countrywide exemption. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said on Twitter a week ago that he had received a "commitment" from Trump that the duties would not apply to Australia.
But Australia accounts for only a tiny share of all U.S. imported steel _ $380 million, or just 1.3 percent, in 2017. The U.S. imports about triple that amount each from Japan, South Korea and Germany _ also countries with military agreements with the U.S.
All three countries and others have called on Trump to exempt their countries from the tariffs. And many have urged Trump to work cooperatively with other nations to address a steel problem rooted in overproduction in China, instead of pushing through blanket tariffs and then looking for negotiations with countries wanting out of them.
Analysts, however, doubt that wholesale tariff waivers for any single nation will be provided, apart from Canada and Mexico. And what's more, Germany, the United Kingdom, Sweden and others in Europe are trying to negotiate a European Union-wide exemption.
China accounts for only about 2.5 percent of U.S. steel imports, but Trump administration officials and tariff supporters have argued that Chinese-made steel makes its way to America though other nations. U.S. officials and industry representatives suspect that such circumvention is happening particularly through Turkey, South Korea and Vietnam, but there's been no definitive study confirming that.
Imports make up about one-fourth of U.S. steel consumption. Trump's tariff orders affect semifinished steel, such as ingots and slabs, and many kinds of finished steel products, including pipe and tubes, cold and flat rolls, bars and rods.
Analysts say it's hard to know which specific products will qualify for tariff exemptions. Guge of California Steel Industries said the slabs that his company needs are not routinely available or prohibitively expensive. He reckons the company will seek exemptions for most of what it imports.
The Commerce Department regulations indicate that product exemptions would be based on availability, quality and national security considerations. Dan DiMicco, the former chairman of steelmaker Nucor who was a trade adviser to Trump during the 2016 campaign and is familiar with the administration's thinking, doesn't see the Commerce Department granting tariff exemptions on many products.
"It's going to take a lot to get an exclusion," DiMicco said.
The online form made available Monday shows that companies will have to file a long application for each type of product, listing in detail aspects of the imported metal, whether there might be a suitable substitute, and why an exclusion should be granted, among other information.
After a form is submitted and publicly available, any individual or organization also can file an objection to the exclusion request within 30 days.
The Commerce Department said it would take 90 days to review an application, including any objections.
Over the course of a year, the agency said, it expects an estimated 4,500 applications for product exclusions and 1,500 forms filed objecting to them.
The department's procedures and regulations on product exclusions that were published Monday in the Federal Register were called an "interim final rule" to allow for a 60-day public comment period. Trade lawyers said that typically, public comment and a final rule are issued before tariffs are implemented. But there wasn't enough time because the administration bypassed the normal process, and now the duties are set to take effect Friday.
.jpg?w=600)
