President Donald Trump on March 8 signed paperwork enacting import tariffs of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum during a White House event attended by a handful of steel and aluminum workers.
To enact the tariffs he employed a rarely used legal provision known as Section 232 that allows the president to impose tariffs unilaterally if imports are determined to pose a national-security risk. Canada and Mexico were temporarily exempted from the tariffs, and Trump held out the possibility that other allies could later be excluded as well.
The move drew praise from AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. “Wall Street’s hair is on fire over these tariffs because wealthy investors enrich themselves by closing mills and factories in the United States and moving them overseas,” Trumka said in a statement. “Using tariffs isn’t going to start a trade war. There’s been a war on working people for decades, and we have been getting our butts kicked.”
Trumka said there are 435 tariffs in place today to fight trade cheaters. “People may not like how President Trump rolled these out, but I applaud him for trying.”
The tariffs take effect March 23.
Tariffs won’t start a trade war, there’s 435 of them in place today to fight trade cheaters. People may not like how Pres Trump rolled these out, but I applaud him for trying.
— Richard L. Trumka (@RichardTrumka) March 8, 2018
