Steel Industry Urges Administration to Address Surge of Steel Imports from South Korea

September 28, 2026

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, the American steel industry warned Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer that steel imports from South Korea are surging into the United States despite the strongest Section 232 steel tariffs since the program was established.

The increases are dramatic across multiple product categories.

Imports of South Korean long products, including rebar critical to American construction, reached a record 145,300 tons in July 2026, a sixfold increase from just 22,100 tons in July 2024.
South Korean pipe and tube shipments have also surged. South Korea maintains substantial pipe and tube production capacity that is almost entirely dependent on exports, with the United States serving as a major destination for those products. Imports of South Korean flat-rolled steel products are showing similarly alarming increases.

The steel industry thanked the Trump administration for its actions to strengthen Section 232 and support American steelmakers, while warning that the extraordinary growth in South Korean shipments threatens to undermine those efforts.

The industry urged Secretary Lutnick and Ambassador Greer to take immediate action to address the South Korean import surge and ensure that Section 232 measures remain strong, effective and enforceable against countries whose trade patterns threaten the domestic steel industry. Furthermore, the industry called for an investigation into the underlying causes of the import surge.

Strong Section 232 measures have helped put American steelmakers in a position to invest, grow and compete for the long term. We cannot allow a single country to erode the success our industry has built.

Read the letter.

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Media Contacts: 

SMA — Gregg Walker, walker@steelnet.org
AISI — Kim Stewart, kstewart@steel.org
CPTI — Tamara Browne, tbrowne@schagrinassociates.com
USOMA — Roberto De Hoyos, rdehoyos@tenaris.com
ALPPA — Tim Brightbill, tbrightbill@wiley.law
AISC — Dani Friedland, friedland@aisc.org
AAM — Cathalijne Adams, cadams@aamfg.org
USW — Jess Kamm Broomell, jkamm@usw.org