FOREIGN POLICY/TRADE DEALS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The Trump administration on Friday [2-16-18] said it was weighing broad-based tariffs and quotas to curb imports of steel and aluminum to protect national security, though officials stressed no final decisions had yet been made and the ultimate policy could be considerably more limited.
The recommendations were part of internal administration reports released Friday laying out the options for President Donald Trump as he considers how to fulfill a campaign promise to take a more aggressive stance than predecessors to shield domestic steel and aluminum makers from growing foreign competition.
But they are opposed by many lawmakers and businesses who worry that the tariffs risk provoking a trade war and sparking higher prices on a range of domestic products.
The recommendations suggest the president choose among several options. One of them is a global tariff of at least 24% on all steel imports from all countries. Another is a tariff of at least 53% on steel imports from a dozen countries. Under the latter, targeted option, the tariffs of 53% would be applied on steel from Brazil, China, Costa Rica, Egypt, India, Malaysia, South Korea, Russia, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam.
The report from the Commerce Department also included, as an alternative, a quota on steel products from countries equal to 63% of the countries’ 2017 exports to the U.S.”
-Jacob M. Schlesinger and William Mauldin, “U.S. Weighs Tariffs and Quotas on Steel, Aluminum Imports,” Feb. 16, 2018 12:19pm