Thread: Trump imposing tariffs on all steel, aluminum imports; exempts Mexico and Canada for

Trump imposing tariffs on all steel, aluminum imports; exempts Mexico and Canada for now

By Brooke Singman, Blake Burman | Fox News
1 hour ago

President Trump is signing an order Thursday that imposes tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from all foreign countries, while carving out an exception for Canada and Mexico for now while North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) negotiations are under way, White House officials told Fox News.

The president, joined by steel and aluminum workers, will sign a companion proclamation — one on steel and one on aluminum – that will institute a tariff of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum imports. The tariffs will become effective in 15 days, with exclusions for Mexico and Canada taking effect “immediately,” officials said.

“A nation that does not protect prosperity at home cannot protect its interests abroad,” the president said. “When it comes time where our country can’t make aluminum and steel, you almost don’t have much of a country.”

A senior White House official said Thursday that the move to impose tariffs would protect “national security” from the effects of “unfair trade practices.”

The U.S. is the world’s largest importer of steel, importing nearly four times as much as it exports, according to the White House. The U.S. imported five times as much primary aluminum as it produced in 2016.

The senior official told reporters Thursday that the move came after an investigation, led by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, and interagency meetings from April 2017 through January 2018, which found that the current level of aluminum and steel imports to the U.S. had the “potential to threaten our national security.”

“The investigation provided the president with the powers to take actions, should the department find that imports of commodities like aluminum and steel provide a significant threat to our national security and economic security,” the official said, noting that national security was “broadly defined,” and not limited to national defense.

Ross recommended a 24 percent tariff on steel, but the administration official said that the official 25 percent tariff was based on additional data and support.

Aluminum is used in a range of ground weapons and aircraft, and steel is required for aircraft carriers, amphibious force ships, submarines, tanks and light armored vehicles. The White House said the investigation rendered the U.S. “unable” to produce enough steel and aluminum to meet national defense and critical industry needs in the event of a national emergency.

The move though, should not be a “surprise,” according to the official, who called it another “promise made” and “promise kept” by Trump.

“No one should be surprised with any kind of action we’re taking,” the official said. “This is one of the most well-discussed, well-signaled actions in the history of trade actions.”

The Trump administration, in January, approved safeguard tariffs on imported large residential washing machines and solar cells.

The official said Thursday that there is language in the proclamation outlining “security relationships” with countries around the globe, and noted that “they will be welcome to discuss” with the U.S. “alternate ways” to tariff the imports.

Officials said that Mexico and Canada would be exempt from the tariffs during NAFTA negotiations. The president, himself, has hinted at other exemptions.

“If that [NAFTA] negotiation is unsuccessful then tariffs will be applied across the board,” Peter Navarro, the director of the White House National Trade Council, told Fox News. “Now, importantly, in addition to that, there is language that will allow other countries to effectively propose ways that they could get a similar dispensation in exchange for more fair and reciprocal trade with the United States.”

But the 25 percent and 10 percent levels should not be seen as firm, officials said. Navarro added that if Canada, Mexico, or any other country is eventually granted an exemption, then tariffs would be raised for all other countries affected.

The president, himself, has said the U.S. would be “very fair.”

“[We’re] sticking with 10 and 25 percent initially,” Trump said during a Cabinet meeting on Thursday. “I’ll have a right to go up or down, depending on the country.”

Trump added, though, “We’re going to be very flexible.”

Navarro told Fox News that the president was not using the tariffs as a “bargaining chip,” but noted that “any country that is allowed to be removed from the tariffs would result in higher tariffs for everybody else.”

“So we still maintain a level of protection in defense of the aluminum and steel industries,” Navarro said.

The White House said that “key sectors” of steel and aluminum industries have faced “long-term downward trends in employment.” The White House said employment in iron and steel mills has dropped by more than 54,000 since 2000. The aluminum industry has cut more than 40,000 jobs in the same time period.

“The decline of American steel and aluminum production has resulted in extensive job losses for hardworking Americans in industries critical to our national security and economic well-being,” the White House said Thursday, noting that despite “considerable growth in demand,” six primary aluminum smelters have permanently shut down since 2012.

Fox News' Adam Shaw, John Roberts, Kristin Brown and Serafin Gomez contributed to this report.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018...a-for-now.html

Thank you, President Trump! Thank you very very much!!

LET THE WORK BEGIN!! Open those moth-balled factories and smelters. Run 'em 24 7 like they're designed to operate. Hire those American Workers! BUY AMERICAN!!

For some reason, this made me think if the WWII metal and rubber drives that my grandparents told us about..we had the plants, but not enough material it seems. Reviving the metals industry may just be national defense issue.

WORLD WAR II RUBBER & METAL SALVAGE & SCRAP DRIVE PROMOTIONAL MOVIE 47014




PeriscopeFilm
Published on Oct 17, 2016

Made during WWII as part of an effort to encourage recycling and re-use of scrap metal and rubber, "Salvage" is hosted by Donald M. Nelson the chairman of the War Production Board. The film features footage of various items that can be salvaged and re-used, and notes that Germany and Japan have been much more efficient in terms of re-using materials. The film also shows how household grease can be stored for use as nitroglycerin.As Nelson says, "We the people of United States have had a land of plenty, resources to burn which were burnt but while we were throwing away, the axis was picking up. Germany and Japan scream while US squander. Today we need all this things thrown away. Now all Americans have got to save both men and women, young and old, have got to follow a new way of life as the enemies did. At mark 1:10 is one of the secret defense plants. Here you see men making tanks. For these you must have rubber, iron, steel and all these have become insufficient in recent times. At mark 1:30 it is evident that there are not enough rubbers for the tank production. Because there aren’t enough rubber for the tanks, steel thread is used as replacement as seen at mark 1:45. Rubber tires are also needed for jeep and planes, hence it is needed to rely on scrap rubbers around the house, it is important to depend and make use of other salvage rubbers as seen at mark 2:15. At mark 2:30 is a shell production industry. The workers here are seen with chips and the shells. Everyone here now know the importance of not wasting and keeping salvages for future purpose. At mark 3:10, a house wife is seen storing oil in fridge for future value. At mark 3:20, she then takes it to her butcher who access collection of fats and he buys it from her at fixed government price. He then goes into making of nitroglycerin. This nitro is also further processed which is then used in steel plants without which the steel plants would have shut down as seen at mark 3:40. Half of the steel in every warship is made from scrap, those things that are referred to as junks. All these junks must be processed in the steel mills. At mark 3:55 is the foremen of the rolling mill. He talks about the importance of junks. Barns possess lots of these junks as seen at mark 4:10. At mark 4:28, they are transported. At mark 4:40, confusions about tin cans are discussed. All these are wanted in the city and more new can plants are been made. At mark 5:14, he said not to bring in tin cans until the order has been given out in local newspapers and other media. At mark 5:20, a house wife is seen with his collection of cans, scraps, knives and forks. Home salvage work is not something you do every day, at times one day a week, or every week till the country becomes victorious. At mark 6:00, there is a large junk keeps of scrap, hence people shouldn’t be upset, they are kept for reserve supply cos nobody is getting rich from large junkies. Prices are fixed by the government. Take every bit of scrap you have at home to every official salvage depot, to gas stations. These official salvage depot are been maintained for the duration. If none are close to you, call the authority or the junk dealers. Get the scraps moving cos that’s the important point. Women today have started this similar role, so can the men and the children. Boy scouts will help and so will the American legions and other public organizations. Saving is as easy as squandering. Give out your scraps and it will be turned to tanks, planes, jeeps, also into guns as seen at mark 7:10. Then will the fighting men have enough and end he world victorious at all time.Donald Marr Nelson (1888–1959) was an American business executive and public servant, serving as the executive vice president of Sears Roebuck before accepting the position of director of priorities of the United States Office of Production Management (1941–1942). In 1942 Nelson became chairman of the War Production Board (1942–1944) when it replaced the OPM.[1] He later served for two years (1945–1947) as president of the Society of Independent Motion Picture Producers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nl5UWEgr15I

Promises Kept: Donald Trump Signs Steel and Aluminum Tariffs to Protect Workers

Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

by CHARLIE SPIERING
8 Mar 2018

President Donald Trump signed his official establishment of tariffs on aluminum and steel on Thursday in a dramatic ceremony in the Oval Office.

The tariffs were exactly as he proposed them last week — 25 percent on steel, ten percent on aluminum.

Trump said that the tariffs were important to sign, citing the industry communities that were devastated by bad trade deals and failed promises from failed politicians.

“Our factories were left to rot and to rust all over the place,” Trump said. “Thriving communities were turned into ghost towns.”

During his remarks, Trump explained how fundamental the tough actions on trade and tariffs were to his presidency and the core his personal beliefs.

“Those who poured their souls into building this great nation were betrayed. But that betrayal is now over,” he said. “I’m delivering on a promise I made during the campaign and I’ve been making it for a good part of my life.”

Trump met with steelworkers and union representatives who thanked him for protecting their industry. After the ceremony, the president signed their hard hats and took pictures with them.
One man spoke about his father who worked in the industry and how difficult it was to watch it fade.

“Well your father, he’s very proud of you. He’s looking down on you,” Trump replied.

“He’s still alive,” the worker responded, prompting laughter in the room.

http://www.breitbart.com/big-governm...otect-workers/

I'm very happy this finally went into effect. What I'm not happy about is that Canada and Mexico are exempt from this. I sure hope they eventually get included in this tariff or I'm gonna be pi$$ed, considering that those are the two countries we import most of our steel from and are the main reason our steel industry went to hell.

President Trump is signing an order Thursday that imposes tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from all foreign countries, while carving out an exception for Canada and Mexico for now while North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) negotiations are under way, White House officials told Fox News.

What the hell? There should be no exceptions. Canada is the largest supplier of both steel and aluminum to the United States.

I should have known he wasn't going to stick to his guns on this.

Originally Posted by 6 Million Dollar Man

I'm very happy this finally went into effect. What I'm not happy about is that Canada and Mexico are exempt from this. I sure hope they eventually get included in this tariff or I'm gonna be pi$$ed, considering that those are the two countries we import most of our steel from and are the main reason our steel industry went to hell.

This was essential because we can't fill the demand right now if we tariff Canada and Mexico. It will take a few months for our producers to gear up, reopen their moth-balled plants, rehire, increase coal and energy orders, etc., etc. Some can be ready in 2 or 3 months, which I think is all the time Canada and Mexico have on a NAFTA redo. This avoids some of the price effects before our domestic suppliers can fill the domestic supply gap and when that gap is filled, there is no issue with prices or any adverse impact on "consumers", as negligible as they would have been. Also, in the meantime, Trump is going to slam the hammer down on trans-shipments from China during the negotiations. About 1/5th of Canada steel is actually China steel. I'm sure Mexico does it too but for some reason the media hasn't reported how much Mexico sends in from China.

You have to remember how delicate this is, because Trump is using a national security clause in our laws to do it and the trade enemies just aren't in other countries, many of them are in the US Congress.

Unhappy Canada Vows Retaliation For Steel Tariffs – NAFTA, Steel, Tariffs and An Introduction To Liu Zhongtian…

Posted on March 2, 2018 by sundance

I think we’ve figured out why President Trump is doing the Steel and Aluminum tariffs ahead of the NAFTA withdrawal. Perhaps, the wolverine administration is using Steel and Aluminum to draw attention to the NAFTA fatal flaw.

Earlier today Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland stated:

“Should restrictions be imposed on Canadian steel and aluminum products, Canada will take responsive measures to defend its trade interests and workers,” Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said in a statement, calling any trade restrictions“absolutely unacceptable.” (link)

The key word in that statement from Freeland is “products”. Why? because Canada doesn’t make more than a boutique amount of raw Steel. (Top 40 List) The Canadians, like the Mexicans, import the vast majority of their raw steel from China. Canada then fabricates products from the Chinese steel. This nuanced point is almost always lost on people who discuss trade. This point of origination is also the fatal flaw within NAFTA.

In essence Canada is a brokerage for Chinese manufactured material, and NAFTA is the access trade-door exploited by China for entry into the U.S. market. More on that in a moment. First watch Justin from Canada explain his country’s position. (prompted, just hit play):

.
See, that verbal parseltongue twisting is what happens when you attempt to walk the precarious fine-line of talking points on trade. Canada doesn’t manufacture steel, they purchase steel and manufacture ‘products’. A considerable difference.

Now, here’s where I think President Trump is using the steel example to highlight the NAFTA flaw and awaken people to the larger hidden issues within the heavily manipulated North American Free Trade Agreement.

There’s always that vocal group of GOPe Wall Street defenders, the professional political and purchased republicans, who attempt to hide the NAFTA flaw. So for those who are dismissive, and for the purpose of intellectual honesty, allow me to introduce the example of Chinese Billionaire Mr. Liu Zhongtian.



Mr. Liu Zhongtian is one of the Chinese billionaires who are extremely skilled at exploiting the NAFTA loophole, generating profit and hiding the reality of NAFTA from the American people. Mr. Liu is not alone, he is simply one of many – Mr. Liu is also the Deputy Secretary of China’s communist party.

Mr. Liu has imported over one million metric tonnes of aluminum ingots into Mexico, that’s over 6% of the world supply, and he stores them there in order to avoid tariffs from the United States.
Chinese billionaire Liu Zohgtian uses Mexico’s NAFTA backdoor access to avoid any U.S. tariff.

2016 […] The pile, worth $2 billion and measuring one million metric tons, represents six per cent of the world’s aluminum.

It was discovered two years ago after a California aluminum executive sent a pilot over San José Iturbide, a city in central Mexico, the Wall Street Journal reported in an investigative piece Friday.

Trade representative Jeff Henderson believes Chinese billionaire Liu Zhongtian, an aluminum magnate, routed merchandise through Mexico to avoid paying US tariffs.

Liu controls China Zhongwang Holdings Ltd, the world’s second largest aluminum producer in its category. His current fortune is estimated at $3.2 billion according to Forbes.

Aluminum manufacturers receive subsidies in China. This means Chinese companies could be able to sell aluminum at a lower price than American firms.
The United States protected domestic trade by enforcing tariffs, which have to be paid when aluminum is imported.

Bringing in merchandise through Mexico would enable a Chinese manufacturer such as Zhongwang to avoid paying those tariffs. (read more)

A photograph of Mr. Liu Zhongtian’s aluminum stockpile in Mexico.

In its current form NAFTA is an exploited doorway into the coveted U.S. market. Asian economic interests, large multinational corporations, invested in Mexico and Canada as a way to work around any direct trade deals with the U.S.

By shipping parts to Mexico and/or Canada; and by deploying satellite manufacturing and assembly facilities in Canada and/or Mexico; China, Asia and to a lesser extent EU corporations exploited a loophole. Through a process of building, assembling or manufacturing their products in Mexico/Canada those foreign corporations can skirt U.S. trade tariffs and direct U.S. trade agreements. The finished foreign products entered the U.S. under NAFTA rules.

Why deal with the U.S. when you can just deal with Mexico, and use NAFTA rules to ship your product directly into the U.S. market?

This exploitative approach, a backdoor to the U.S. market, was the primary reason for massive foreign investment in Canada and Mexico; it was also the primary reason why candidate Donald Trump, now President Donald Trump, wanted to shut down that loophole and renegotiate NAFTA.
This loophole was the primary reason for U.S. manufacturers to relocate operations to Mexico. Corporations within the U.S. Auto-Sector could enhance profits by building in Mexico or Canada using parts imported from Asia/China. The labor factor was not as big a part of the overall cost consideration as cheaper parts and imported raw materials.

If you understand the reason why U.S. companies benefited from those moves, you can begin to understand if the U.S. was going to remain inside NAFTA President Trump would have remained engaged in TPP.

As soon as President Trump withdrew from TPP the problem with the Canada and Mexico loophole grew. All corporations from TPP nations would now have an option to exploit the same NAFTA loophole.

Why ship directly to the U.S., or manufacturer inside the U.S., when you could just assemble in Mexico and Canada and use NAFTA to bring your products to the ultimate goal, the massive U.S. market?

From the POTUS Trump position, NAFTA always came down to two options:

Option #1 – renegotiate the NAFTA trade agreement to eliminate the loopholes. That would require Canada and Mexico to agree to very specific rules put into the agreement by the U.S. that would remove the ability of third-party nations to exploit the current trade loophole. Essentially the U.S. rules would be structured around removing any profit motive with regard to building in Canada or Mexico and shipping into the U.S.

Canada and Mexico would have to agree to those rules; the goal of the rules would be to stop third-party nations from exploiting NAFTA. The problem in this option is the exploitation of NAFTA currently benefits Canada and Mexico. It is against their interests to remove it. Knowing it was against their interests President Trump never thought it was likely Canada or Mexico would ever agree. But he was willing to explore and find out.

Option #2 – Exit NAFTA. And subsequently deal with Canada and Mexico individually with structured trade agreements about their imports. Canada and Mexico could do as they please, but each U.S. bi-lateral trade agreement would be written with language removing the aforementioned cost-benefit-analysis to third-party countries (same as in option #1.)

All nuanced trade-sector issues put aside, the larger issue is always how third-party nations will seek to gain access to the U.S. market through Canada and Mexico. [It is the NAFTA exploitation loophole which has severely damaged the U.S. manufacturing base.]

This is not direct ‘protectionism’, it is simply smart and fair trade.

Unfortunately, the U.S. CoC, funded by massive multinational corporations, is spending hundreds of millions on lobbying congress to keep the NAFTA loophole open.

The U.S. has to look upstream, deep into the trade agreements made by Mexico and Canada with third-parties, because it is possible for other nations to skirt direct trade with the U.S. and move their products through Canada and Mexico into the U.S.

Donald J. Trump
✔@realDonaldTrump


We must protect our country and our workers. Our steel industry is in bad shape. IF YOU DON’T HAVE STEEL, YOU DON’T HAVE A COUNTRY!
8:01 AM - Mar 2, 2018

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Do you see Canada or Mexico on the Steel Production List?

1 Mar
TheLastRefuge@TheLastRefuge2

Because much of the steel from Canada doesn't actually originate from within Canada. It comes to Canada from China, and then from Canada into the U.S. It's free brokered trade for Canada. https://twitter.com/USAneedsTRUMP/status/969376221384642560 …

Rick Henwood@wehauler


I deliver steel all day long in Calgary. Sheet Metal. Plate, Structural (Angle, Flat, Square Bar, Round Bar, I-Beams, Wide-Flange Beams. I haven't seen a North American piece of steel in 15 years.
10:15 PM - Mar 1, 2018

1 Mar
TheLastRefuge@TheLastRefuge2

Because much of the steel from Canada doesn't actually originate from within Canada. It comes to Canada from China, and then from Canada into the U.S. It's free brokered trade for Canada. https://twitter.com/USAneedsTRUMP/status/969376221384642560 …

Christopher Gaska@ChristopherTodd


True. Dofasco(arcelor-mittal) and Stelco are the two major steel producers in Canada. The main plants are both in Hamilton, Ontario. Dofasco produces mostly finished products for the auto industry. Stelco has been mothballed for years. The CDN steel is indeed Chinese...
8:22 PM - Mar 1, 2018

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https://theconservativetreehouse.com...liu-zhongtian/

I think the negotiations will fizzle and NAFTA will be terminated. I don't think the Canadians and Mexicans in office today even understand what's going on or what lays ahead of them. That's good, that's to our advantage, but sort of pitiful to watch.

If NAFTA is terminated then will the TN-1 Visa be terminated too? I hope so!

Those TN-1 Visas are not for lettuce pickers. They are good paying jobs that Americans should have!!!

Get rid of all these foreign worker Visas!