Trump's latest tariff plans on steel, aluminum and other imports are spreading uncertainty President Donald Trump plans to on Monday formally announce 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports as part of an aggressive effort to remake the existing terms of world trade that so far has compounded economic uncertainty.
Trump also intends this week to reset U.S. taxes on all imports to match the same levels charged by other countries, all of which comes on top of the 10% tariffs he already put on China, China's retaliatory tariffs that started Monday and the U.S. tariffs planned for Canada and Mexico that have been suspended until March 1.
Or, would the 25% tariffs simply be a universal tax going forward as exceptions and workarounds have meant that much of the steel being imported by the United States avoids existing tariffs?.
“We have far more steel and aluminum-consuming businesses, think construction, machinery and equipment manufacturing, auto manufacturing, than we do steel and aluminum producers, so the advantage created for the producers comes at a much greater cost to downstream users,” said Erica York, vice president of federal tax policy at the right-leaning Tax Foundation.
The White House has yet to fully counter economic analyses showing that tariffs would hurt growth and intensify inflation, only saying that such analyses are incomplete without including the full extent of Trump's planned income tax cuts and regulatory curbs.
