Vietnam, Brazil hardest hit by US decision on AD duties on CORE imports

Vietnam and Brazil were the most impacted by the US Department of Commerce’s final affirmative determination in the anti-dumping duty (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) investigations of corrosion-resistant steel products (CORE) from ten countries.

Key takeaways

  • US imposes high steel tariffs: Final AD/CVD rates target $2.9B in CORE steel imports
  • Vietnam, Brazil hit hardest: AD margins reach 110.21% for Vietnam, 137.76% for Brazil
  • Mixed market impact: US producers expect relief; demand remains weak

The Department of Commerce published the final AD and CVD rates on Tuesday August 26, nearly five months after the US International Trade Administration announced preliminary ADs on CORE steel products from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, the Netherlands, South Africa, Taiwan, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Vietnam.

Vietnam’s final AD margins range from 88.98% to 110.21%, depending on the company, and CVD rates between 0.03% and 1.29%.

Brazil was second in the list among the hardest hit, with final AD margins ranging from 27.45% to 137.76% and CVD rates between 4.49% and 17.09%.

Mexico, another key supplier to the US, received final AD rates of 5.78% to 23.41% and CVD duties of 0% to 13.26%.

“These determinations demonstrate that the Trump administration will vigorously enforce US trade laws and will not tolerate unfairly traded goods in the US marketplace,” Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade William Kimmitt said in a statement on Tuesday.

The ruling covers about $2.9 billion worth of corrosion-resistant steel imports. CORE products are used in automobile bodies, appliances and commercial and residential construction, making it a key material for US manufacturing and consumers.

CORE steel products include flat-rolled steel sheet and coil that are coated with zinc, aluminium or other metallic layers to prevent rust. This category includes galvanized and galvalume steel, products that are widely used in cars, household appliances, roofing and siding, and other construction applications where durability against corrosion is essential.

There is general softness in US domestic prices of coated steel products, including hot-dipped galvanized and Galvalume, with increased domestic coated capacity at a time when demand isn’t very strong, which has pressured prices of these products.

A US Galvalume distributor shrugged off the importance of the AD/CVD duties vis a vis its impact on domestic prices.

“I don’t think the AD determination will have a great price impact,” the Galvalume distributor said. “I think domestic Galvalume prices will go up after the pre-tariffed material runs out. But there is a lot of inventory, as demand isn’t great.”

A US Galvalume producer agreed that coated steel demand was soft.

“There is softness everywhere; both in galvanized and galvalume – there is enough coated capacity in the US market, but its ugly right now in terms of demand,” the Galvalume producer said. 

A second Galvalume producer, though, was optimistic the AD/CVD duties will help improve domestic coated steel prices. “The price pressure you are talking about is overblown in my opinion.”

Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel hot-dipped galvanized coil (cold-rolled base), fob mill US was $49.50 per hundredweight on Thursday August 21, flat week on week, but up by 1.02% from the assessment two weeks earlier at $49 per cwt on August 7.

Fastmarkets’ monthly assessment for steel coil Galvalume, fob mill US was $44.75 per cwt ($895 per short ton) on Tuesday August 19, down by 2.72% from $46.00 per cwt on July 15, and 5.29% higher than the same month last year, when it was assessed at $42.50 per cwt.

In early September 2024, domestic steel producers US Steel, Wheeling-Nippon and Steel Dynamics Inc had filed anti-dumping and countervailing duty petitions with the US Department of Commerce and International Trade Commission on imports of corrosion-resistant steel.

‘Unviable’ to export steel to the US

Since the original petitions were filed on September 5, 2024, imports of carbon and alloy galvanized hot-dipped sheets and strip from Vietnam, Mexico and Brazil have declined significantly.

From January to July 2025, the US imported a total of 896 tonnes of HDG sheet from Vietnam, lower than the 62,188 tonnes imported from the nation in September 2024.

In July, Mexico exported 407 tonnes of HDG sheet to the US, also lower than the 19,188 tonnes exported to the US in September, data showed.

Brazil did not export any HDG sheet to the US in July and shipped a total of 15,062 tonnes of the material to the US in September 2024.

In July, the US imported 7,686 tonnes of HDG sheet from Taiwan, an increase from the 2,690 tonnes imported from the country in September.

A Galvalume distributor said that “Vietnam has vanished from the Galvalume exports market since the preliminary determination came out in April.”

“The rates for Turkey, Canada, Mexico and the UAE seem to be giving them an advantage compared with others,” a Turkish hot-dipped galvanized steel trader told Fastmarkets.

A Brazilian market source said the final duties were “an additional problem” for steel trade between the US and Brazil.

“Since June, it has been 50% [tariffs] on all steel and aluminium exports, and now the antidumping cases,” Marco Polo de Mello Lopes, executive President at the Brazilian Steel Association Aço Brasil, told Fastmarkets on Wednesday August 27.

“My first consideration is that we cannot see this as a gain in competitiveness or as any kind of advantage. It is just another complicating factor, and I believe it will be difficult for the American side to control, even if they are trying,” Lopes said.

Steel traders in Brazil said these duties have made it “unviable” to export steel to the United States.

“It has become unviable for Brazil to export coated steel to the US. I don’t think it was much anyway, but the anti-dumping duties will wipe out what was there,” a US-based Brazilian trader told Fastmarkets.

In Brazil, 98,851 tonnes of galvanized products across various coated steel specifications have been exported to the US since the beginning of 2025. In the same period of 2024, Brazil’s galvanized exports to the US totaled 74,492 tonnes, around 32.7% less when compared to this year, according to the Brazilian government database system, Comex Stat.

A Mexican source underlined the sense of pessimism weighing on the industry since the anti-dumping investigation was initiated.

“I don’t really know how much volume of those materials actually moves into the United States,” the Mexican market source said. “At first glance, it seems like it shouldn’t have much real impact, except maybe in a few niche segments.”

“What is true, though, is that there’s a terrible sense of pessimism in the market,” the Mexican source added.

The International Trade Commission will now decide whether the US steel industry has suffered material injury from these imports. If affirmative, the AD and CVD orders will take effect at the announced rates, providing relief to domestic producers.

Final dumping rates:

Australia

  • BlueScope: 19.10%
  • All others: 19.10%

Brazil

  • Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional; Companhia Metalurgica Prada: 191.26% (Cash Deposit Rate: 191.26%)
  • Usiminas: 25.70% (Cash Deposit Rate: 21.77%)
  • All others: 161.44% (Cash Deposit Rate: 157.51%)

Canada

  • Stelco: 8.13% (Cash Deposit Rate: 8.13%)
  • ArcelorMittal Dofasco, Coteau-du-Lac: 5.59% (Cash Deposit Rate: 5.59%)
  • Nova Steel: 52.08% (Cash Deposit Rate: 50.25%)
  • All Others: 5.79% (Cash Deposit Rate: 5.79%)

Mexico

  • Galvasid: 24.05% (Cash Deposit Rate: 24.05%)
  • Ternium: 14.17% (Cash Deposit Rate: 1.07%)
  • All Others: 17.40% (Cash Deposit Rate: 4.30%)

The Netherlands

  • Tata Steel: 22.64%
  • All Others: 22.64%

South Africa

  • Duferco: 19.21%
  • All Others: 19.21%

Taiwan

  • Yieh Phui Enterprise Co., Ltd: 10.85%
  • Sheng Yu Steel Co. Ltd: 67.81%
  • Kounan Steel Co. Ltd: 67.81%
  • Meglobe Co. Ltd: 67.81%
  • All Others: 10.85%

Turkey

  • Borcelik Celik Sanayii Ticaret AS, ArcelorMittal Çelik Ticaret A.Ş., Bamesa Celik Servıs San. Ve Tic. A.Ş. and Bamesa Muradiye Demir Çelik San. Ve Tic. A.Ş.: 6.48%
  • Yıldız Demir Çelik Sanayi A.S., and Yıldız Entegre Ağaç Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S.: 10.49%
  • All Others: 8.06%

UAE

  • Al Ghurair Iron & Steel LLC: 7.20%
  • United Iron & Steel Company/ United Metal Coating: 16.38%
  • All Others: 8.40%

Vietnam

  • Hoa Sen Group/ Hoa Sen Nghe An One Member Limited Liabilities Company/ Hoa Sen Nhon Hoi – Binh Dinh One Member Limited Liabilities Company: 110.19% (Cash Deposit Rate: 110.19%)
  • Ton Dong A Corporation: 87.07% (Cash Deposit Rate: 87.07%)
  • China Steel and Nippon Steel Viet Nam Joint Stock Company: 94.89% (Cash Deposit Rate: 94.89%)
  • Hoa Phat Steel Sheet Limited Liability Company: 94.89% (Cash Deposit Rate: 94.89%)
  • Maruichi Sun Steel Joint Stock Company: 94.89% (Cash Deposit Rate: 94.89%)
  • Nam Kim Steel Joint Stock Company: 94.89% (Cash Deposit Rate: 94.89%)
  • Pomina Flat Steel Joint Stock Company: 94.89% (Cash Deposit Rate: 94.89%)
  • Sam Hwan Vina Co., Ltd: 94.89% (Cash Deposit Rate: 94.89%)
  • Southern Steel Sheet Co., Ltd: 94.89% (Cash Deposit Rate: 94.89%)
  • Tay Nam Steel Manufacturing & Trading Co., Ltd: 94.89% (Cash Deposit Rate: 94.89%)
  • TVP Steel Trading Joint Stock Company: 94.89% (Cash Deposit Rate: 94.89%)
  • Viet Phap Steel Corrugated Joint Stock Company: 94.89% (Cash Deposit Rate: 94.89%)
  • Vietnam-Wide Entity: 162.96% (Cash Deposit Rate: 162.96%)

Alesha Alkaff in Boulder, Colorado, Serife Durmus in Bursa, Turkey, and Rachel McGuire in Texas, USA, have contributed to this article.

Galvalume® is a registered trademark of BIEC International.

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