Celebrating the Tariffs
There are deep pockets of support for President Trump’s trade policies across the business world.
Good Morning!
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INTERNATIONAL TRADE
Some industries are celebrating the tariffs: “The United States buys more steel from Canada than from any other country, and those imports will become much more expensive under tariffs President Trump intends to impose this week. That’s good news to Stephen Capone, president of Capone Iron Corporation of Rowley, Mass., which makes steel stairs, handrails, gratings, and other products and has around 100 employees. For too long, he said, Canadian competitors have been flooding the New England market with cheap steel products, preventing his and other local companies from winning business. ‘No matter how low we bid, they can underbid us on any job,’ Mr. Capone said, ‘They’re decimating our market.’”
“Many companies oppose Mr. Trump’s tariffs, fearing that they will push up costs and provoke retaliation against their products by other countries. ... But there are deep pockets of support for his trade policies in the business world, particularly among executives who say their industries have been harmed by unfair trade.”
“Jesse Gary, chief executive of Century Aluminum, an American aluminum producer, supported the aluminum tariffs during Mr. Trump’s first term, but said the exemptions had made them less effective, and was glad to see them being reimposed. ‘The new tariffs will close those loopholes back up and enable us to begin investing again, and bring on more production here in the U.S.,’ he said.”
“While the tariffs could enable U.S. steel and aluminum manufacturers to take a bigger share of the domestic market, the question is whether they make the large investments needed to expand capacity. Steel companies did so after the tariffs of the first Trump administration. Timna Tanners, a managing director at Wolfe Research covering metals companies, said U.S. companies could add enough capacity to replace imported steel in many markets. But, she added, fear of creating a glut might temper their plans.” READ MORE
