Still, the new taxes on foreign steel and aluminum and Trump’s other import tax plans – including his promise to raise American tariffs to match those charged by other countries -- are likely “to boost U.S. inflation and weigh on global growth this year,’’ Jennifer McKeown and Hamad Hussain of Capital Economics wrote Monday.
3 steel supplier, and Japan and South Korea are also major steel exporters to the U.S. China is widely seen as source of the world steel industry’s problems.
The 2018 tariffs — 25% on steel and 10% on aluminum — provoked outrage in Canada and Mexico, U.S. neighbors and allies that resented being hit with trade sanctions and labeled as threats to U.S. national security.
In 2021, production at downstream companies dropped by nearly $3.5 billion because of the tariffs, canceling out the $2.3 billion uptick in production that year by aluminum producers and steelmakers, according to a 2023 study by the U.S. International Trade Commission, an independent federal agency that investigates trade disputes.
Trump’s original metals tariffs gave America’s struggling steel and aluminum producers some relief from intense global competition, allowing them to charge higher prices.
