WASHINGTON — In the blustering trade tiff between the U.S. and China, Houston-based McMahon Steel Supply is “just a leaf in the wind.”

That’s how company vice president Ronnie Smith says it feels to be a 15-employee, family-owned outfit that is dealing with a new 25 percent tariff on the steel it imports from Japan and other locales — steel the company “simply can’t secure here” in the U.S.

The distributor is among the many operations in Texas and beyond now asking the Commerce Department for product-specific exclusions to the import levies on steel and aluminum.

But that already time-intensive process has proved unwieldy, with the feds getting swamped by thousands of exemption requests. The overall trade scene remains unsettled as President Donald Trump has stoked tension not only with China, but also with U.S. allies in Europe and North America.

And as companies like McMahon Steel Supply wait to learn if they will receive relief, many are already feeling the toll.

“We can’t eat the cost,” said Smith, who oversees McMahon Steel Supply’s operations and sales. “We have to tell our customers: ‘There’s nothing we can do. We need to increase prices.’”

Uncertainty over the tariff exclusions offers the latest look into the Trump administration’s aggressive trade agenda.

The president in March announced new import levies of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum. He then pledged to impose a separate $50 billion in tariffs on Chinese goods. He followed that by threatening China with $100 billion more in tariffs after it pledged retaliation.

All of those moves came on top of other weighty trade negotiations, including high-wire diplomacy with Canada and Mexico over the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Trump has vacillated between egging on a global trade war and cooing that he just wants a better deal for the U.S. That means most of the impact of the White House’s actions is so far hypothetical. Except for when it comes to the steel and aluminum tariffs.

“Some of our suppliers have already notified us of price increases,” Bob Barnebey, president of San Antonio-based Amcon Controls, wrote to the Commerce Department in March.

The metal levies went into effect in late March, though some major trading partners like the European Union and Brazil have been exempted as deliberations continue.

The action, which was made on national security grounds, was celebrated by America’s steel industry. Officials last month pointed out that more than 3,500 steelmaking jobs have been announced in the U.S. since Trump said that if “you don’t have steel, you don’t have a country.”

The feeling isn’t limited to the Rust Belt, either.

"We're in favor of growing the steel industry in this country," John Hritz, CEO of Baytown-based JSW Steel USA, part of an Indian conglomerate, recently told The Associated Press.

1 / 8A worker grinds down imperfections in a roll of raw steel at the Borusan Mannesmann plant in Baytown, where steel manufactured and shipped in from Turkey is finished. The company is one of many in Texas seeking exemptions from the Trump administration on steel and aluminum tariffs. (Todd Spoth / The New York Times) 2 / 8Texas imports more steel and aluminum than any other state in the U.S. That means it could be more susceptible to new tariffs on steel and aluminum. In this photo, a worker threads pipe at the Borusan Mannesmann plant in Baytown. (Todd Spoth / The New York Times) 3 / 8Nobody in Texas has been hit by the new import levies quite like the state's energy industry, which is heavily reliant on specialized metal that's often made outside the U.S. In this photo, Ranulfo Flores operates machinery at the Borusan Mannesmann steel pipe plant in Baytown. (Loren Elliott / The Associated Press) 4 / 8A 25 percent tariff on steel could mean additional costs of some $30 million a year for Borusan Mannesmann, the company said. Here, Jose Mata grinds a steel pipe at the company's plant in Baytown.(Loren Elliott / The Associated Press) 5 / 8Borusan Mannesmann Pipe U.S.'s chief executive Joel Johnson said his customers were "frantic" when the tariffs were announced. Here, a forklift moves steel pipes at the Borusan Mannesmann plant in Baytown.(Loren Elliott / The Associated Press) 6 / 8Borusan Mannesmann Pipe U.S has pledged to build a new factory in Baytown — with 170 jobs — if it receives a two year-exemption. (Loren Elliott / The Associated Press) 7 / 8It's not just Borusan Mannesman, whose Baytown plant is seen here. An executive with Houston-based McMahon Steel Supply said the company "just a leaf in the wind" amid all the trade talk. (Todd Spoth / The New York Times) 8 / 8The high stakes caused many companies turn to the Commerce Department's lumbering process for seeking product-specific exemptions. More than 9,000 applications have been submitted, with entities sometimes asking for dozens of exclusions. (Todd Spoth / The New York Times)

Texas complications

But Texas presents certain complications — namely, that it imports more steel and aluminum from abroad than any other state in the U.S.

Breweries expressed concern that consumers looking to crack open cold ones will end up dealing instead with higher costs. The chief executive of Toyota's Plano-based North America operation said the levies could add hundreds of dollars to the price of new cars.

The tariffs even reached some unusual quarters.

Scott Way is the owner of the 7A Ranch, a resort near the Blanco River in Wimberly. He placed an order — before the tariffs went into effect — for steel rail from China to build a children’s train on the property. The tracks, however, didn’t arrive in time to avoid the new levies.

“I did not budget for an additional 25 percent tariff,” Way wrote to the Commerce Department.

Nobody in Texas has been hit quite like the state’s energy industry, which is heavily reliant on specialized metal that’s often made outside the U.S.

Just ask Borusan Mannesmann Pipe U.S., a Baytown manufacturer that imports some steel from its Turkish parent company that is then finished for use in large oil and gas pipeline projects. A 25 percent tariff could mean additional costs of some $30 million a year, the company said.

“Our customers were frantic,” said Borusan Mannesmann Pipe U.S.’s chief executive Joel Johnson, pointing out that the energy industry is ramping up business amid higher oil prices.

Or ask Smith, McMahon Steel Supply’s vice president. His company’s customers include international players like Halliburton and Baker Hughes. Those heavyweights could see the higher steel prices in the U.S. and simply decide to move more operations overseas, he said.

Or ask Houston-based SEBA Tubular, which said the steel it imports from Turkey is “not a threat but a necessity for this country.”

Slow exemption process

Those high stakes caused many companies turn to the Commerce Department’s lumbering process for seeking product-specific exemptions. More than 9,000 applications have been submitted, with entities sometimes asking for dozens of exclusions.

Some companies have been more creative than others; Borusan Mannesmann Pipe U.S even pledged to build a new factory in Baytown — with 170 jobs — if it receives a two-year exemption.

But no exclusions have been granted so far. A large portion of the filings haven’t even been posted online. And some lawmakers have started to complain that a multi-month process could end up stretching on much longer.

"We are concerned that, to date, the product exclusion process has lacked ... basic due process and procedural fairness," Sens. Orrin Hatch of Utah and Ron Wyden of Oregon, the top Republican and Democrat, respectively, on the Senate Finance Committee, wrote last month.

A spokesman for the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security didn't respond to a request for comment. But a department spokesman told The New York Times that the agency was undertaking "an unprecedented effort to process the requests expeditiously."

For companies in Texas and beyond, the clock is ticking.

“The whole process has been so convoluted,” said Smith, the McMahon Steel Supply vice president. “We have our doubts that the exclusions are going to even be accepted.”