United Steelworkers International on Friday offered rare praise for the Trump administration on Friday, when it said it supports the Commerce Department’s Friday recommendation for tariffs or quotas on steel imports.
“It is absolutely clear from today’s release of the Section 232 Aluminum and Steel Reports that Department of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has a comprehensive understanding of the unrelenting attacks and challenges that these industries critical to our nation’s security are facing from unfairly traded imports,” USW President Leo Gerard said.
“These recommendations have the potential to focus on the bad actors in the world that historically and systemically cheat in international trade,” he added. “We applaud that approach. … [I]n our view, and that of most Americans, the President must take quick and comprehensive action.”
The report released Friday proposed an across-the-board tariff of 24 percent on steel imports from all countries to the U.S., or a 53 percent tariff on imports from specific countries, including China, Brazil, South Korea, Vietnam, and India as a solution to trade imbalances. Alternately, the report suggested a global quota restricting countries to 63 percent of their 2017 imports.
Steel Manufacturers Association President Philip Bell, whose group represents 75 percent domestic producers, also endorsed those recommendations. “The president now has options before him that can move our industry forward and help steelmakers operate at rates that will allow U.S. producers to reinvest to maintain and strengthen the industry,” he said.
Gerard, like most other union leaders, is otherwise not a fan of the Trump administration. In a statement posted on the USW website Thursday, he called President Trump’s proposed $200 billion infrastructure plan a “con” because the amount was too small and might displace other federal spending on infrastructure projects.
