The trade wars are escalating.
Just weeks after starting a residential washing machine war with South Korea and pissing off the Chinese with tariffs on solar equipment, the Trump administration looks like they’re going to take shit up another notch.
Apparently, “aluminum imports threaten national security”, according to Wilbur Ross and the U.S. Commerce Department, which is recommending tariffs and quotas, two people who spoke to Bloomberg said.
The details involve a 7.7% tariff on all aluminum imports from everywhere and a 23.5% tariff on aluminum imports from China, Russia, Venezuela and Vietnam. As far as steel goes, the options are: a global tariff of at least 24% on steel imports from anywhere; a tariff of at least 53% on steel imports from 12 nations with a quota by product for all steel products from all countries equal to 100% of their 2017 exports to U.S.; quota on all steel products from all nations equal to 63% of 2017 exports.
Needless to say, steel and aluminum stocks are all getting a boost from this.
Trump’s got until mid-April to be the “decider“, and we’d be willing to bet he’s on board with it.
After all, there’s no better way to “make America great again” than to infuriate the rest of the world on the way to propping up dead domestic industries at the expense of open trade and globalization, right?
Just to be clear, this is going to piss off literally everyone in the G20 and China will of course retaliate (good time to sell some Treasurys!). This comes just a few days after Trump said America is “being decimated by dumping”…
In his meeting with lawmakers on trade, President Trump says steel and aluminum industries are being “decimated by dumping” from many countries https://t.co/hGMHFkmJTI
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) February 13, 2018
Bottom line:
U.S. Commerce Is Said to Recommend 7.7% Aluminum Import Tariff
ALCOA, U.S. STEEL, CENTURY ALUMINUM SPIKE TO SESSION HIGHS pic.twitter.com/7VNW0aBqBk
— Heisenberg Report (@heisenbergrpt) February 16, 2018
