Steel, Aluminum Makers Are Among Few to Praise Tariff Plans
March 02 2018 - 3:52PM
Dow Jones News
By Doug Cameron and Patrick McGroarty
Nucor Corp., US Steel Corp. and Century Aluminum Co. lead a
short list of companies that welcomed President Trump's proposed
tariffs on all imports of those metals.
Firms that make steel and aluminum in the U.S. had successfully
lobbied in recent years for tariffs on specific kinds of metal from
countries they argued were overproducing those metals. The levies
of 25% on imports of steel and 10% on aluminum that President Trump
said Thursday he would implement next week are far broader. The
Trump administration hasn't said how exactly the tariffs might be
applied.
"This is vital to the interests of the United States," US Steel
Chief Executive David Burritt said at the White House on
Thursday.
The company is expected to restart a blast furnace in Granite
City, Ill., to make steel at what are expected to be higher global
prices that would likely result from the new tariffs.
Nucor Corp., the biggest U.S. steel company by sales, also
praised the blanket tariffs. "We believe very strongly that it's
time for decisive and meaningful action to stem the flow of
illegally traded imports into this country," Chief Executive John
Ferriola said Thursday.
Their support set them apart from the leaders of many other big
companies in the U.S. and overseas. Makers of everything from
airplanes to beer cans said that the tariffs would push up
production costs and make their products more expensive for
consumers. Foreign leaders in from Ottawa to Brussels warned that
the protectionist measures could spark a trade war.
Supporters of the tariffs said any inflationary effects would be
small. Mr. Ferriola said in an interview on Thursday that steel
isn't among the biggest costs for most manufacturers. "If our trade
laws are allowed to be abused, manufacturers are going to lose
customers anyway" to foreign competitors, he said.
Michael Bless, chief executive of Chicago-based Century
Aluminum, echoed that support. "We face a flood of imports -- and
that will only accelerate without immediate relief," he said.
Nucor shares were down 0.3% in late Friday trading,
underperforming the broader market, while US Steel was down almost
2%. Century Aluminum was 2% higher.
The United Steelworkers Union also has backed tariffs for years
in response to shrinking workforces at struggling unionized
companies like U.S. Steel. But the union also urged the Trump
administration to exempt Canada from duties to protect unionized
workers at Canadian mills.
Not all metal makers embraced the proposed tariffs. Century's
larger rival, Alcoa Corp., said they could affect aluminum
shipments from Canada, where it operates two smelters and is a
partner in a third.
California Steel Industries Inc., which turns imported steel
slabs into sheeting used in construction and pipes used by
oil-and-gas companies, said that the tariffs Mr. Trump proposed
would be major blow to its business.
"To deliver what he wants, to protect U.S. companies and jobs,"
said Marcelo Botelho Rodrigues, California Steel's chief executive,
"it has to be better applied than across the board. It has to be a
more surgical approach."
--Bob Tita contributed to this article.
Write to Doug Cameron at doug.cameron@wsj.com and Patrick
McGroarty at patrick.mcgroarty@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 02, 2018 15:37 ET (20:37 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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