Donald Trump’s latest foray into protectionism is a 25% tax on all imports of steel and aluminium into the United States…
The last time Trump imposed steel tariffs in 2018, the UK had a limited exemption, but there’s no suggestion that we’ll be spared this time, so bad news for British exporters…
It’s even worse, though, for America’s closest neighbours Canada and Mexico. Canada is the top external steel supplier to the US, and Mexico is third in the league table, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute
Trump previously said he’d impose 25% tariffs on all goods from Canada and Mexico – a threat currently paused, albeit only for 30 days.
This latest initiative plays very much to Trump’s nationalist base, with the aim of repatriating American jobs, but ‘beggar thy neighbour’ economics rarely end well.
Those Canadian and Mexican steelworkers are consumers, too. If these measures put them out of work, it makes life more difficult for US exporters to the countries on its doorstep.
By the same token, if US steel firms are given privileged access to the market, they have less incentive to keep down costs – making their goods more expensive and adding to inflation.
Then there’s the geopolitics – who wants to be an ally of a country that sees you as its economic enemy?
Adrian Goldberg gets a view from Mexico City with Alex Gonzalez Ormerod, a political analyst at The Mexico Political Economist and Jen Hassum, Executive Director at the Broadbent Institute a progressive think tank in Canada.
Byline Podcast is produced in Birmingham, UK by Adrian Goldberg.
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