By Bob Tita

President Trump's refusal to allow exemptions to his planned tariffs on imported steel will help keep domestic steel prices rising, Cleveland-Cliffs Chief Executive Lourenco Goncalves said.

The spot market price for sheet steel in the U.S. has climbed above $800 a ton recently in anticipation of the 25% duty on all imported steel set to begin on March 12. Prices stayed below $700 for much of 2024.

"When you put tariffs on steel from every single country and when you don't accept exemptions, you don't create mechanisms for people to start gaming the system," Goncalves said during a conference call with investors.

Goncalves said Cliffs, the second-largest U.S. steel producer, should be able to reduce the impact of the tariff on its recently acquired Stelco unit in Canada. He said more of Stelco's orders from U.S. customers could be filled by Cliffs's U.S. mills.

Steel demand slumped last year because of higher interest rates and weakening manufacturing activity, particularly in the automotive industry. Cliffs on Monday reported a fourth-quarter net loss of $447 million on a 15% reduction in revenue from a year earlier.

Cliffs's shares fell 6.2% to $10.45.

Goncalves said Trump's 2018 25% tariff on imported steel lost its effectiveness to sustain higher steel prices when countries were excluded from the duties, and individual steel buyers secured exemptions on specific steel products. "I don't see that this time around," he said.

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February 25, 2025 12:16 ET (17:16 GMT)

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