My friend is in the business of buying wholesale steel rebar, steel beams, steel sheets, etc. from inexpensive overseas producers and then selling it downstream to American homebuilders who build budget homes.
He got an email from his customs broker this afternoon that their order from Hanoi, Vietnam will be subject to either 50%, 70%, 110%, or 135% tariff tomorrow.
50% penalty for foreign steel.
Another 20% penalty for Vietnam.
Another 40% transshipment penalty if U.S. customs believes the steel is not truly Vietnamese.
And another 25% fentanyl penalty if CBP thinks China is involved with this steel in anyway whatsoever.
The customs broker told him to assume he’s paying the full 135%, just to be safe.
They won’t know for sure for a few months, and the penalties of being wrong are too severe.
Thank you to the party of cutting red tape for helping the business community out!