https://www.miningweekly.com

US plans uranium import probe that may lead to tariffs

18th July 2018

By: Bloomberg

  

Font size: - +

WASHINGTON – The Trump administration plans to open an investigation into whether uranium imports are harming national security, a move that could lead to tariffs on foreign shipments of the metal, said three people familiar with the matter.

US uranium producers Energy Fuels and Ur-Energy filed a petition in January asking the Commerce Department to investigate the matter under Section 232 of the 1962 Trade Expansion Act, the same provision the president used to slap tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. US industry wants the government to shield it from competition from State-owned companies in countries including Russia and Kazakhstan.

The timing of the probe remains unclear, said a person familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the deliberations aren’t public. Some administration officials are debating whether to wait until the controversy blows over from President Donald Trump’s meeting in Helsinki with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday.

The Commerce Department declined immediate comment.

A uranium investigation would add to trade tensions that the IMF warns represent the biggest risk to the global economy. Imposing uranium duties would deal another blow to nuclear power plants already struggling with low electricity prices and flat demand.

However, US miners supply less than 5% of domestic consumption for the metal, and they argue it’s increasingly difficult to compete with state-subsidized companies in Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

“The global uranium market is not a level playing field,” said Paul Goranson, COO of Energy Fuels. “It’s put the country at a real risk, because we’re increasingly dependent on these state-owned companies which obviously have different global strategic objectives than we do.”

US producers want about 25% of the domestic market to be reserved for American miners, which produced about 1.2 million pounds last year, the lowest in at least 25 years.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told the Senate Finance committee last month that he would make a decision on the uranium probe “very shortly.” “It’s complicated by some prior agreements that exist but we are sorting through it and we will come to a conclusion very, very quickly,” Ross said.

Canada and Kazakhstan are the main sources of US uranium imports, each accounting for about a quarter of the total, followed by Australia, Russia and Uzbekistan, according to the US Energy Information Administration. Almost 90% of uranium delivered to US reactors was from foreign nations in 2016, according to the government agency.

Edited by Bloomberg

Comments

Projects

Showroom

Actom image
Actom

Your one-stop global energy-solution partner

VISIT SHOWROOM 
Rittal
Rittal

Rittal is a world leading provider of top-quality integrated systems for enclosures, power distribution, climate control, IT infrastructure and...

VISIT SHOWROOM 

Latest Multimedia

sponsored by

Hyphen, Eva mine, ferrochrome price make headlines
Hyphen, Eva mine, ferrochrome price make headlines
27th March 2024
Resources Watch
Resources Watch
27th March 2024

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION







sq:0.13 0.163s - 106pq - 2rq
Subscribe Now