Amid the discontent of US congressmen over an alleged increase in steel exports from Mexico to the United States, the technology company Transmute, based in Austin, Texas, reported that six members of the National Chamber of the Iron and Steel Industry Acero (Canacero) successfully concluded a traceability pilot program using its verifiable data platform (VDP).
“This landmark initiative involved the collaboration of six major Mexican steel manufacturers, ArcelorMittal, Deacero, Gerdau Corsa, Outokumpu Mexinox, Tenaris, and Ternium, testing the use of US Customs and Border Protection's (CBP) interoperability standards using Transmute's Verifiable Data Platform (VDP) to issue and share verifiable trade credentials across the steel supply chain,” the company reported in a press release.
Transmute's information comes two weeks after a group of United States congressmen asked President Biden's government that the United States Trade Representation (USTR) supervise the import of Mexican steel.
The 17 congressmen who signed the petition point out that the import of Mexican steel increased 73 percent compared to the average imported between 2015 and 2017. This situation led to the fact that in March 2018 the United States decreed a 25 percent tariff on Mexican steel for reasons of national security under the so-called Section 232.
According to the company, participants immersed themselves in Decentralized Identifiers and Verifiable Credentials - the core technologies driving customs modernization - by testing VDP's features, including automated multi-party workflows and cryptographic signatures. The culmination of this journey was marked by Canacero’s joining the US CBP Steel Tech Demo, a showcase illustrating the practical and commercial viability of the VDP, in collaboration with the US Department of Homeland Security.