TRUMP: STEEL ACTION COMING ‘VERY SOON’: President Donald Trump appears to be champing at the bit to impose steel import restrictions under a national security probe being conducted by the Commerce Department. In a speech Wednesday in Cincinnati, Trump indicated major action was coming quickly and that it could affect countries besides China, which is often blamed for creating a global steel glut.
“Wait until you see what I’m going to do for steel and for your steel companies,” Trump said. “We’re going to stop the dumping, and stop all of these wonderful other countries from coming in and killing our companies and our workers. You’ll be seeing that very soon. The steel folks are going to be very happy.”
The Commerce Department has already accelerated its Section 232 national security probe to give its recommendations to the White House by the end of the month, but Trump’s comment got Morning Trade thinking: How soon is “very soon”? We asked the White House and the Commerce Department if it was possible the recommendations could come even sooner than expected, but got no response.
Both China and the European Union have pushed back against the suggestion that steel imports pose a threat to national security, while a coalition of business groups led by the National Foreign Trade Council have warned of possible trade retaliation if Trump were to impose broad-based steel tariffs.
Adding to the suspense over what the Commerce Department will recommend and Trump will do: Big steel consumers, like the auto and oil and natural gas sectors, have also warned they would be hurt and that U.S. jobs will be put at risk unless any restrictions are very narrowly tailored to only those steel products where there is a legitimate national security concern.