Trump’s surprise tariffs horrified markets, Republicans, and America’s closest ally

Backlash to President Trump’s announcement of steep tariffs on steel and aluminum was swift and angry from some of the United States’ most important trading partners – and top USA allies are pledging to retaliate, if necessary.

Asian shares posted steep declines Friday, adding to global stock market losses after President Donald Trump vowed to impose stiff steel and aluminum tariffs, sparking fears of a trade war. Ferriola, whose company has a facility in Louisiana, was one of the steel executives who attended the meeting. “People have no idea how badly our country has been mistreated”.

Trump, at a meeting with American steel and aluminum producers, announced that next week he will sign off on measures created to protect U.S. companies.

A Canadian government official, asked whether Ottawa would be pressing for an exemption, said “Our efforts have never diminished nor altered” since the question of possible steel tariffs first emerged previous year.

The steel tariffs that President Donald Trump plans to impose would deal a major blow to USA factories, according to an official with an industry group. However, the announcement was postponed after pushback from top trade advisers, according to multiple reports.

Tadaaki Yamaguchi, a Japanese steel executive and chairman of the Japan Steel Information Center, called a 25 percent across-the-board tariff “ill-advised and naïve”.

President Trump’s tariff moves could force investors to confront another trade issue: NAFTA.

Molson Coors, for instance, warned that tariffs on aluminum could push up the cost of beer in cans and cause jobs to be lost. Selling pressure will climb as volatility increases, Krosby said. Ben Sasse of Nebraska. “Protectionism is weak, not strong”.

“These could be a lethal blow to all the economic success this administration has ushered in”.

This, a week later (27 April 2017): “Today, President Donald J. Trump signed a presidential memorandum calling on Secretary Wilbur Ross to prioritise a Department of Commerce investigation to the effects of aluminium imports on USA national security”. If the levies only apply to raw materials, the effect on Apple would be minuscule, since the company produces only a small portion of its Macs in the US, according to Gene Munster of Loup Ventures.

Burritt called it “the whack-a-mole game” in which U.S. companies have to beat back foreign competitors with unfair trade practices.

“We are not protectionists”. American agricultural exports, like soybeans, are thought to be particularly exposed.

Global trade lawyer Mark Warner said Canada could if it wished quickly apply tariffs on steel or aluminium or other targeted products. That option would have levied a 53% tariff on a select group of countries, including Brazil, South Korea, Russia, Turkey, India, Vietnam, China, Thailand, South Africa, Egypt, Malaysia and Costa Rica.

If the tariff includes finished goods, Apple’s Mac and iPhone costs could go up by as much as 0.2 percent, assuming the tax is a percentage of the metal components of Macs and iPhones, Munster said. The Department of Commerce found that their quantities and circumstances “threaten to impair the national security”.

Canada is the biggest exporter of steel to the USA and most of that steel comes from our area.

Canada imports more steel from the USA than any other nation, buying 50 percent of all American steel exports.

A tariff around the level now discussed – 25 per cent on steel and 10 per cent on aluminium from all countries – is expected to drive up U.S. steel prices.

The president is required to make a decision on the steel recommendations by April 11 and on the aluminum recommendations by April 19.

Aluminum producer Century Aluminum Co’s shares rose 3.3 percent, while Alcoa Corp edged up 0.2 percent.

The Department of Commerce said it implemented these measures in order to “raise production of aluminum from the present 48% average capacity to 80%, a level that would provide the [US] industry with long-term viability”. “We must not let our country, companies and workers be taken advantage of any longer”. Free market backers of the president have hoped his harsh rhetoric on trade would remain rhetoric and not be translated into action.