100,000 tons of Dutch-made Tata steel exempt from U.S. tariffs

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A U.S. tariff on laminated steel used in packaging will not apply to Tata Steel products manufactured in the Netherlands, the Dutch foreign trade minister said on Monday.

Sigrid Kaag told reporters that the U.S. had agreed the products would be exempt from a 25% tariff announced by the administration of President Donald Trump in June 2018, saving consumers and the company up to 100 million euros annually in tariff costs.

"The import tariffs on laminated steel have been retracted and that's wonderful news for Tata Steel," Kaag told reporters in The Hague. "It's good for us, and good for Dutch employees."

Since 2018, U.S. companies wishing to import the type of steel, which is not produced in the U.S., had been forced to seek tariff exemptions on a case-by-case basis.

A spokeswoman for Tata Steel, whose Dutch operations are based in the city of Ijmuiden, said that around 100,000 tons of the company's 531,000 tons of steel exports to the U.S. were covered by the exemption.

"This is very good news, we are very happy with the minister's efforts", Tata spokeswoman Ariane Volz said.

She noted that the exemption will last for a period of one year, and must then be extended.

(Reporting by Toby Sterling; Editing by Jan Harvey, Kirsten Donovan)