US Chamber of Commerce warns against expanding tariffs on steel, aluminum imports to additional countries

The US Chamber of Commerce today cautioned the Trump administration against expanding tariffs or quotas on steel and aluminum imports to additional countries.

The US must not expand tariffs or quotas on steel and aluminum imports to additional countries on June 1, as has been threatened, the US Chamber of Commerce executive vice president Myron Brilliant said.

Ahead of the upcoming June 1 deadline for exemptions from proposed steel and aluminum tariffs, Brilliant said that months ago, the US Chambers had warned that alienating its strongest global allies by launching a tit-for-tat trade war would harm the US economy and undermine American leadership.

Such a move would hit American manufacturers with higher costs, slow the growth of the US construction sector, and put the brakes on job creation in both of these key industries, he said.

US steel prices are already nearly 50 per cent higher than those in Europe or China, and aluminum prices have been extremely volatile, so this move would add substantially to these challenges, he said.

Extending the reach of these tariffs and quotas to additional countries is certain to provoke widespread retaliation from abroad and would put at risk the economic momentum achieved through the administration's tax and regulatory reforms. We urge the administration to take this risk seriously, Brilliant said.