Tai Asks ITC to Assess Emissions in Steel, Aluminum Industries
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai asked the International Trade Commission to produce a report on the greenhouse gas emissions in the domestic steel and aluminum sectors, "which will help to inform discussions with the European Union regarding the Global Arrangement on Sustainable Steel and Aluminum."
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The EU is planning to hike tariffs on steel and aluminum (and other high-carbon industrial sectors) from countries that don't charge their producers a price on carbon, so that the EU doesn't lose ground to other countries' industries with lower costs. The U.S. has a price on carbon in states along the West Coast and a dozen states on the East Coast, through cap and trade programs, but only Pennsylvania is a major steel producer among those states. The U.S. argues its metals should be judged on their actual carbon intensity, not government structures aimed at lowering emissions.
The study should evaluate the CO2 per metric ton of steel and aluminum produced by surveying firms and reviewing data submitted to the EPA, Tai wrote in a June 5 letter to the ITC. She asked the commission to "use information obtained through the questionnaires and external data sources to estimate the highest (e.g., the 50th through the 90th percentiles) and the average GHG emissions intensity of steel and aluminum produced in the United States by product category in 2022."
Tai also asked for the analysis to include direct emissions at the mills, emissions from the electricity or heat purchased for the mills or smelters, and the emissions associated with iron ore, ore-based metallics, coke, semi-finished steel and steel substrate, carbon anodes, unwrought aluminum and wrought aluminum that will be further processed.
"In particular, the Commission should collect information on the volume and origin of intermediates such as primary unwrought aluminum and semi-finished steel (ingots, blooms, semi-finished slabs, billets, or beams, etc.) and other steel substrate suitable for further processing purchased by producers of wrought aluminum and finished steel products, respectively," she wrote.
Tai asked the analysts to disclose their methodology for calculating these figures, and said the entire report should be completed by Jan. 28, 2025, and be made public. "Similar requests will be made of the Commission in the future to account for developments in the domestic steel and aluminum industries," she added.