Commerce Department Proposes Tariffs On Imported Steel And Aluminum
- jamesmcconnell
- Feb 20, 2018
- 1 min read
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has proposed three alternatives for consideration by President Trump, who must decide on whether steel and aluminum imports are damaging domestic producers and posing a threat to national security as a result. A decision on steel is due from President Trump by April 11, and on aluminum by April 19. The alternative proposals are intended to increase domestic steel production from the current 75 percent of capacity to 80 percent, and aluminum production from the current 48 percent of capacity to 80 percent.
The three alternatives proposed are:
Tariffs of 24% on all steel imports and 7.7% on all aluminum imports;
Tariffs of 53% on steel imports and 23.6% on aluminum imports from certain countries, with import quotas on metal imports from all other countries; and
Limiting all steel imports to 63% of last year’s levels and aluminum imports to 86.7% of last years levels from all countries.
Stock prices of domestic steel and aluminum producers were up 7% to 10% on the news.
