American Petroleum Institute says tariff ruling could hurt oil, gas industry

The Department of Commerce’s ruling to deny product exclusions from tariffs on imported steel could have a negative impact on the natural gas and oil industry, according to the American Petroleum Institute (API).

This week the Commerce Department denied product exclusions for U.S. natural gas and oil companies.

“This ruling ignores the legitimate and critical needs of the natural gas and oil industry for global sourcing of specialty steel products essential to delivering energy to the American families,” API Executive Vice President Marty Durbin said. “The administration’s decision-making is not serving the interests of energy consumers and American businesses, as these tariffs are expected to increase the cost of sourcing steel for the oil and natural gas companies which in turn could increase the cost of energy to consumers. This is not the way to achieve the administration’s commendable goal of U.S. energy dominance.”

Durbin said the Section 232 tariffs threaten the affordability and abundance of energy produced in the United States. He said the Trump Administration should reconsider its trade policy.

API is a trade association representing the oil and natural gas industry. The industry supports 10.3 million U.S. jobs and about 8 percent of the U.S. economy. API’s has approximately 620 member firms.