Walker urges Trump to reconsider steel and aluminum tariffs

President Donald Trump’s proposal to impose steep tariffs on imported steel and aluminum have raised fears of an global trade war. The White House is using a rarely-deployed World Trade Organisation (WTO) rule which allows countries to pursue trade measures when it is in their national security interest.

As well, Canada ranks as the number one buyer of American steel, which, according to the Canadian Steel Producers Association, evenly balances the total trade to CAN $12 billion yearly.

“As the economic cycle ages, volatility is more normal, but the overall economic backdrop is still quite positive”, Detrick said.

European Union trade chiefs are considering slapping 25 per cent tariffs on around $3.5bn (£2.5bn) of imports from the U.S. In fact, the rise of China, economically, was – if you look at it – directly equal to the date of the opening of the World Trade Organization. “That’s what every trade war ultimately does”.

“Whatever tariff is being proposed is going to have an impact on both sides of the border and the impact is not going to be positive”, Eisenberger told CTV Toronto.

But that’s unlikely to bother Mr Trump. “Like the US, Indonesia must also protect its industries”. He’s simply continuing in that vein.

How does the Trump administration respond?

Abroad, even though US trade law authorizes the president to impose tariffs if imports are determined to endanger national security, doing so is likely to invite legal challenges from other countries and alienate our trading partners.

The Republican governor released a statement saying such tariffs would put American jobs at risk.

“So we do hope that he will reconsider his aims”, the former Finnish prime minister said.

“Who in the world is going to be too bothered?” he asked of the potential new cost. “If there are tariffs, then we’ll have to deal with them”, he said. Since April 2017, the Trump Administration has been contemplating a hike in tariffs for a broad range of steel and aluminum mill products, based upon a rarely used provision of US law.

Analysts in Asia are paying particular attention to what happens in the relationship between the world’s two largest economies, the United States and China.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told reporters on Friday that the steel and aluminum industries are facing global challenges and that countries should cooperate to tackle them.

At the time, the list included not just steel products but also orange juice, apples, sunglasses, photocopiers and other goods.

“We won’t sit idly by while our businesses are hit by measures we consider totally unjustified”.

What are the stakes for the US?

For example, the American Automobile Policy Council has said that such policies would lead to higher prices for steel and aluminum here in the United States compared to prices paid by global competitors, placing the USA automotive industry at a competitive disadvantage.

The number of employees working in the sector has fallen over the same period from 135,000 to 83,600.

Finally someone in Washington is paying attention to the foreign competition that helped kill the Bethlehem Steel plant in Lackawanna and other local steel mills back in the early 1980s.

But steel-consuming industries employ 6.5 million Americans and add about $1 trillion to GDP.