The Commerce Department has recommended that President Trump impose tariffs or quotas on steel and aluminum imports from major supplying countries to protect U.S. national security.
Trump has 90 days to review the Commerce report and determine whether or not to follow Ross’ recommendations.
In a 262-page Commerce Department report published Friday, the agency gave Trump three choices to protect the U.S. steel industry.
One is an across-the-board tariff of 24 percent on imports from all countries to the U.S., and another is a 53 percent tariff on imported steel from China, Brazil, South Korea, Vietnam, and India, among other countries. A third option is to impose a global quota that would limit countries to shipping 63 percent of the steel they shipped to the U.S. in 2017.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said the surge of foreign metal imports has created a national security risk and left the American manufacturing community struggling.
”Excessive steel imports have adversely impacted the steel industry,” he wrote Friday. “Numerous U.S. steel mill closures, a substantial decline in employment, lost domestic sales and market share, and marginal annual net income for U.S.-based steel companies illustrate the decline of the U.S. steel industry.”
Trump has regularly floated the idea of imposing tariffs and quotas on steel imports in an effort to resuscitate U.S. production, a proposal that critics claim would hurt American consumers and businesses.
The president faced backlash late last month for approving tariffs of up to 30 percent on solar panels and washing machines.
Ross has also recommended that Trump impose a 7.7 percent tariff on all aluminum imports, or a stiffer tariff of 23.6 percent placed on major exporters like China, Venezuela, and Russia. A third option would be quotas equal to 86.7 percent of their 2017 exports.
