Washington has significantly lowered its preliminary retaliatory tariffs on South Korean steel products. 

The U.S. Commerce Department on Wednesday issued a preliminary ruling on Posco’s hot-rolled steel plates, lowering provisional tariffs from 57-point-04 percent to a mere one-point-73 percent. 

A similar measure was implemented for Posco’s cold-rolled steel plates earlier. Initially, the U.S. department planned to impose 59-point-72 percent tariff on the products, but a provisional decision last month lowered it to four-point-51 percent. 

The U.S. plans to make final decisions next year.