JSW Steel is suing three of the biggest American steelmakers for stifling competition and conspiracy by denying to sell raw metal to its US pipe and plate-making operations after the Trump administration imposed imports on cheaper foreign supplies.

According to the lawsuit filed in Houston federal court, US Steel Corp, Nucor Corp, and Cleveland-Cliffs Inc controlled more than 80% of domestic steelmaking potential and planned to cause direct harm to JSW.

JSW said they have not been able to get enough semi-finished steel slabs from suppliers outside the US since the imposed tariffs in 2018.

The costs increased when the US companies denied supplying metal. The refusal led to higher steel prices for US buyers when domestic prices of the metal were near a record as well.

John Hritz, a Board member of JSW, said they were working hard at getting exclusions when tariffs were imposed, and the US companies said not to worry about an exclusion to bring in slabs. We can supply whatever you require.

And they went along with them, tried to work with them at their best, but never got the supply of slabs.

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