Can Manufacturers Institute president Robert Budway has welcomed backing from 36 members of the US Congress to resist proposed tariffs on imported tinplate.

The letter to Congress, signed by representatives from both sides of the House and led by Republicans David Rouzer (North Carolina), and Andy Harris (Maryland), and Democrat Susan Wild (Pennsylvania), expressed concern over potential duties on tinplate steel that “could threaten thousands of manufacturing jobs and jeopardize US food security”.

The letter to the International Trade Commission and Department of Commerce stated: “The downstream impact on can manufacturers, who rely on tin mill products to make billions of steel cans annually, threatens to cause significant price increases and possible job losses.”

Steel manufacturer Cleveland Cliffs and the United Steelworkers Union petitioned the US government earlier called for anti-dumping (AD) and countervailing duties (CVD) on tariffs of up to 300% on imported tin mill products from eight countries.

Budway highlighted an April study from the Consumer Brands Association which concluded that the proposed tariff would have a minimal effect on employment “increasing US employment by an estimated 66 workers”, but would have profound effects on domestic steel can production of a nearly 20% decrease, and losses of up to 2,800 can manufacturing jobs. Further losses in food product manufacturing could reach 37,000, according to the study.

The study concluded: “In short, for every steel worker who gains from the duties, more than 600 other manufacturing jobs in downstream industries will be threatened.”

Budway added: “If this petition were granted, domestic steel can makers may be forced to offshore manufacturing operations to offset the threat of increased imports of steel cans from China and other countries.”

Budway pointed out that the US steel industry produced less than 50% of the tinplate needed for domestic can manufacturing and relied on “allied countries” to make cans for the US domestic market.

The CMI commended “the foresight of congressional letter’s cosigners to maintain the current prices consumers pay for canned products and save American jobs” and called on the ITC to “find that imports of tin mill products have not injured Cleveland Cliffs” and for the Department of Commerce to find that the “US steel can industry’s foreign suppliers that are based in allied countries are not selling tin mill products at unfair market prices”.