Why We Can't Have Nice Things: Can You Afford Tariffs on Tin Cans?
"There's nobody that says, wait, is this good for America? Is this good for the American consumer?"
"There's nobody that says, wait, is this good for America? Is this good for the American consumer?"
The Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission are considering a petition that would impose tariffs of up to 300 percent on tinplate steel.
It would result in shortages, decreases in productivity, and higher production costs affecting millions of American workers and nearly every consumer.
American companies and consumers "bore nearly the full cost of these tariffs because import prices increased at the same rate as the tariffs."
Big corporations and entire industries constantly use their connections in Congress to get favors, no matter which party is in power.
Any gains seen by the steel industry from tariffs have been overshadowed by the losses for downstream companies and higher prices for consumers.
Biden's top trade adviser says tariffs must be "strategic," but what strategic value do tariffs on South Korean steel serve?
Biden will allow 3.3 million metric tons of European-made steel to be imported annually without tariffs. After that, Trump's 25 percent tariffs will remain in force.
Trump imposed huge tariffs on imported steel and Biden is keeping them in place even as American businesses beg for relief.
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.