US Finalizes 3.7% Countervailing Duty on POSCO Plate, Adding Pressure on Korean Steel Exports
Summary
- The US Department of Commerce finalized a 3.7%% countervailing duty on POSCO’s plate products, adding to the export burden on South Korea’s steel industry.
- The US views South Korea’s industrial electricity pricing system and Korea Emissions Trading Scheme (K-ETS) as de facto subsidies and has raised countervailing duty rates each year.
- South Korea’s steel industry faces additional cost burdens and a tougher US protectionist trade stance, with possible countervailing duties on shipments exported in 2024 and beyond also under discussion.
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The US government has finalized a 3.7% countervailing duty on POSCO’s steel plate products, adding to the export burden facing South Korea’s steel industry.
3.7% countervailing duty imposed on plate products
“We will work for reasonable improvements in future reviews”
The US Department of Commerce on May 14 finalized a 3.7% countervailing duty rate on POSCO’s carbon and alloy steel cut-to-length plate products, according to industry officials on May 19. The measure applies to shipments exported to the US in 2023. The same rate also applies to group affiliates including POSCO Holdings and POSCO Future M.
Countervailing duties are imposed when authorities determine that a product’s price competitiveness has been enhanced by government subsidies or similar support. The US has taken issue with South Korea’s industrial electricity pricing system and the Korea Emissions Trading Scheme, or K-ETS, treating them as de facto subsidies. On that basis, Washington imposed a 0.87% countervailing duty on South Korean plate shipments exported in 2021 and a 1.47% rate on 2022 shipments, raising the duty each year.
The Commerce Department issued the latest decision while it remains in a legal dispute with POSCO. POSCO and the South Korean government filed suit at the US Court of International Trade in February 2024, challenging the countervailing duties. A POSCO official said the company would continue to respond faithfully in future reviews and seek a reasonable adjustment in the tariff rate.
The additional cost burden is set to weigh on South Korea’s steelmakers, which are already grappling with a weak construction market and an influx of low-priced Chinese steel products. Export conditions for Korean steelmakers are deteriorating as the US hardens its protectionist trade stance. Industry officials are also discussing the possibility that the Commerce Department could impose countervailing duties on shipments exported in 2024 and beyond. The US has applied a 50% tariff on South Korean steel since June 2025.
Shin Jeong-eun, Hankyung.com reporter, newyearis@hankyung.com
