Bikes, Cans, and Springs: 700 New Items Face Global US Tariffs

The US is preparing to impose new tariffs on a wide-ranging list of 700 products, including bicycles, tin-plated cans, mattress springs, and industrial machinery. The move comes at the request of American firms who are petitioning the Commerce Department for protection from “unfair” foreign competition.
The deadline for this second round of requests was October 21. It was spurred by the success of an August round that added 407 items to the “steel derivatives” list. That round saw a near-100% approval rate, fueling fears that this new, larger list will also be greenlit in December or January.
US companies like Guardian Bikes and Red Gold submitted multi-page pleas. They argue that they pay high tariffs on raw steel (up to 50%), while foreign businesses can import finished goods with steel components without a comparable levy.
This “loophole,” they claim, allows foreign competitors to undercut the domestic market. For example, Red Gold pays a 25% tariff on UK tinplate steel, but a foreign company can import a finished can with “no comparable tariff.”
This “expansionist” policy is causing alarm in Europe. Exporters in the UK and EU, already paying baseline tariffs of 10% and 25% respectively, now face an additional tax on their goods’ steel content.
This new layer of tariffs, they argue, “makes a mockery” of their existing trade agreements and injects significant uncertainty into the global economic relationship, hitting allies and competitors alike.