Trump's 'National Security' Steel Tariffs Are Just Old Fashioned Protectionism. Here's the Data To Prove It.
The department has granted just 1 percent of the tariff exemption requests that were challenged by domestic steel producers.
The department has granted just 1 percent of the tariff exemption requests that were challenged by domestic steel producers.
Robert Wetherbee says steel tariffs might force his business to shutter. But instead of asking for the tariffs to be lifted, he wants special treatment.
A Michigan steel plant annnounced it's closing at the end of the year, while U.S. Steel stocks are down 75 percent since Trump's tariffs were announced.
Trump's steel protectionism seems to have failed. Again.
Who could have seen that coming? Well, lots of people did—but the U.S. International Trade Commission and President Trump didn't listen.
The biggest American steelmaker says there has been reduced demand for their products in recent months, probably because they raised prices after Trump slapped tariffs on foreign steel.
Nucor's stock price is down 16 percent since August. Executives say the fourth quarter will be even worse.
If you tax something, you get less of it, and Trump's tariffs are a tax on making things-including cans, kegs, and the beer that goes into them.
But working-class identity politics threaten to ruin everything.
"Those are traumatic increases. They are shocks to our system," says Mike Schmitt, CEO of The Metalworking Group, an Ohio-based manufacturer.
When it comes to trade, the president believes a lot of nonsense.
John Stossel says voluntary, free trade improves lives.
Steel imports are no more a threat to U.S. national security than imported sugar or lumber or tulips.