While the ceasefire holds in Lebanon, the Strait of Hormuz is back open. The disruption caused by its prolonged closure and the increased cost of critical goods have made the importance of domestic manufacturing more clear than ever. In times of crisis, we must be able to manufacture products vital for national security, including steel and aluminum, here in the United States.
Fortunately, President Donald Trump’s Section 232 tariffs are finally bringing manufacturing back home after years of foreign cheating. With renegotiation of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement on the horizon, it is important for the Trump administration to continue putting America first, even as left-wingers push for handouts to foreign countries at the expense of American jobs.
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A flood of imported metals, often subsidized by the socialist policies of foreign governments, have cheated American steel and aluminum workers out of business for years. During my time in Congress, I witnessed the consequences of this dynamic firsthand when fighting for my constituents within the U.S.’s manufacturing community. Mexico is particularly notorious, using Chinese aluminum to cheaply manufacture products they ship across our borders tariff-free under the USMCA.
To make matters worse, when the USMCA replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement during the first Trump Administration, Mexico and Canada tied the agreement’s ratification to tariff relief. While some tariff relief was granted, the newly minted USMCA should have prevented the unfair trade practices that necessitate these tariffs. Unfortunately, when the Biden Administration took office shortly after the USMCA took effect, vital aspects of the USMCA went unenforced, including mechanisms intended to prevent import surges. Tariff exemptions were handed out left and right by the autopen. Once again, American jobs were shipped over the border.
The entire aluminum supply chain was devastated, including extruders, who represent the vast majority of American aluminum workers. Extruders produce the essential aluminum parts used in everything from building materials to cars. Biden’s failures accelerated the trend of offshoring that began with NAFTA: thousands of aluminum extrusion jobs were wiped out across the country and American businesses were forced to shut down as operations moved to Mexico and the imports came flooding in.
Now that he is back in the Oval Office, Trump wants to stop the bleeding caused by Biden’s reckless negligence, and he has made great progress through the reinstatement of his Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum.
If we want to keep manufacturing at home and extend the benefits of an “America First” trade agenda to aluminum extruders, we can’t afford to repeat past mistakes. Mexico and Canada want Trump to fold under globalist pressure and hand out Section 232 tariff exemptions tied to the USMCA renegotiation. It’s the same play they made last time, and as we learned from Biden, any preferential treatment or signs of weakness turn free and fair trade into a rigged game.
And guess what? The worker always loses. We must firmly maintain the Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum at all stages of the supply chain, so that U.S. manufacturers can compete on a level playing field.
At the same time, the USMCA renegotiation represents an opportunity to rebalance the agreement and correct NAFTA’s original flaw, made worse by China’s cheating. Rather than protect North American manufacturers, this agreement has become an outlet for foreign adversaries, namely communist China, to use Mexico as a back door to cheap U.S. market access. Now we have Chinese aluminum being fabricated into “Mexican” auto parts that are shipped into the U.S. fully processed.
This means a product made with entirely Chinese aluminum can receive the benefits of USMCA that are meant to be exclusive to North America. As a result, Automakers are assembling these 100% foreign parts in the U.S. and calling the cars American made so they can cash in on lucrative rebates funded by taxpayers.
USMCA’s rules of origin must be strengthened to discourage companies who assemble aluminum parts from moving their operations to Mexico, where they use Chinese metal to cheat the system. It is no accident that our trade deficit with Mexico is the largest it has ever been, even larger now than the trade deficit with China. By imposing stronger rules of origin and specific U.S. content requirements for aluminum, the USMCA can become the tool for fair North American trade it was meant to be.
HEY SOCIALISTS, WE’VE ALREADY FIGURED OUT THE SUPERMARKET
As the master negotiator, it is up to Trump and his trade team to fight for us. If we maintain the Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum, without exceptions and exemptions, while taking these steps to strengthen the USMCA, millions of U.S. workers will benefit. Let’s keep fighting for the forgotten men and women of the U.S. and truly make our country great again!
Rep. Jason Chaffetz served as chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. He is a contributor for Fox News networks and the author of They’re Coming for You.
