Trump To Impose Steep Duties On Import Of Steel And Aluminium

As part of his “America First” policy, United States President Donald Trump has said that he may impose steep global tariffs on the import of steel and aluminium, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Trump announced his plans at a White House Meeting yesterday (1 March) with fifteen executives of steel and aluminium firms he deemed as “bedrock” American industries. He has proposed a tariff of 25 per cent on imported steel and 10 per cent on imported aluminium.

Without specifying any time frame, he said that protectionist trade curb would provide protection to American firms for a “long time”.

The move has sparked opposition from both free-market advocates and American manufacturers who feel that increased input costs would render them less competitive, and affect global trade order, trigger an increase in consumer prices and also cautioned against the risk of retaliation from trade partners.

The announcement came in in spite of objections from several advisers and also the Department of Defense who had cautioned him about possible backlash from allies including Japan and Canada.

Trump said that the move was aimed at reducing the trade imbalance that was benefitting other countries. He said, “ When it comes to a time when our country can’t make aluminum and steel, you almost don’t have much of a country”.

The president justified the tariffs by invoking a sparsely-used Cold War-era law that allows the president to curb imports deemed as a threat to national security. The tariff hike in turn is based on a study by the Department of Commerce that stated that metal imports had taken away the United States’ ability to manufacture its own weapons, aircraft and tanks.

Shares of various steel and aluminium manufactures oscillated a bit, first witnessing an upward surge anticipating the tariff hike before plunging down when news reached Wall Street that there might not be an announcement. Shares swung up again when Trump announce his plans.