As US markets struggled to shake off Monday’s punishing selloff, President Trump – who said last night that he expects the trade war to be resolved within three or four weeks – tweeted early Tuesday about how tariffs “rebuilt” the American steel industry.
In one year Tariffs have rebuilt our Steel Industry – it is booming! We placed a 25% Tariff on “dumped” steel from China & other countries, and we now have a big and growing industry. We had to save Steel for our defense and auto industries, both of which are coming back strong!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 14, 2019
Trump’s tweet about the steel tariff comes as more Republicans in Congress press Trump to abandon the tariffs on steel and aluminum that were his first major step in the trade war, with some arguing that US consumers and businesses are paying more than $900,000 a year for every job saved or created by Trump’s steel tariffs. But as Trump sees it, metals tariffs are necessary to preserve the domestic steel industry for national security reasons, as well as for creating well-paying manufacturing jobs.
Some had hoped Trump would remove the tariffs, at least on Canada and Mexico, after USMCA negotiations produced a deal, but that hasn’t happened.
Trump followed his steel tweet up with a series of tweets about Washington’s “fantastic” negotiating position. Companies can “make your product at home in the USA and there is no Tariff. Many companies are leaving China so that they will be more competitive for USA buyers. We are now a much bigger economy than China, and have substantially increased in size since the great 2016 election.”
Trump added that “we are the ‘piggy bank’that everyone wants to raid”…”NO MORE!”
China buys MUCH less from us than we buy from them, by almost 500 Billion Dollars, so we are in a fantastic position. Make your product at home in the USA and there is no Tariff. You can also buy from a non-Tariffed country instead of China. Many companies are leaving China…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 14, 2019
….so that they will be more competitive for USA buyers. We are now a much bigger economy than China, and have substantially increased in size since the great 2016 Election. We are the “piggy bank” that everyone wants to raid and take advantage of. NO MORE!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 14, 2019
via ZeroHedge News http://bit.ly/2VpXT9k Tyler Durden