Steel Import Decision Coming ‘Fairly Soon’, says Donald Trump

Falls Church, VA (AIIS) - President Donald Trump in late July appeared less eager than usual to restrict steel imports.

During a July 25 interview with The Wall Street Journal, Trump reiterated his commitment to “addressing the steel dumping,” but, while he described the nation’s current steel import situation as “very unfair,” he also indicated that the issue is not his top priority.

“We’re waiting till we get everything finished up between health care and taxes and maybe even infrastructure,” Trump said three days before a Republican effort to pass a health care bill failed in the Senate. “But we’re going to be addressing the steel dumping at a very – fairly soon.”

Trump, though, also used part of the interview to extol the virtues of protectionism.

“You know, our country was built, to a large extent, on protecting our manufacturers,” Trump said. “If you go back to Jefferson, you go back to all of these great, great people that ran the United States properly, it was really based on a certain form of tariff and a certain form of protection. We’re just the opposite now. We’re the people that are getting beat up.”

The Department of Commerce was expected to release the findings of its Section 232 investigation of the impact of imported steel on national security by late June, but the inquiry has continued into August. That report is expected to include recommendations on what, if any, actions to take to limit steel imports.

During a briefing with members of the House Ways and Means Committee, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross reportedly echoed Trump’s comments about the process being delayed until other agenda items are completed. Reuters reported that Ross “also told lawmakers the issue had a lot of complexities and that he was considering the interests of both steel makers and steel users and [was] concerned about potential trade retaliation against U.S. agricultural products.”

Courtesy: AIIS