“President Donald Trump substantially raised tariffs on steel and aluminum imports on Monday to a flat 25% ‘without exceptions or exemptions’ in a move he hopes will aid the struggling industries in the United States…

“Trump signed proclamations raising the U.S. tariff rate on aluminum to 25% from his previous 10% rate and eliminating country exceptions and quota deals as well as hundreds of thousands of product-specific tariff exclusions for both metals. A White House official confirmed the measures would take effect on March 4…

“Trump also will impose a new North American standard requiring steel imports to be ‘melted and poured’ and aluminum to be ‘smelted and cast’ within the region to curb U.S. imports of minimally processed Chinese and Russian metals that circumvent other tariffs.” Reuters

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Many on all sides are skeptical of the tariffs:

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“The U.S. International Trade Commission studied Trump’s first-term steel and aluminum tariffs and found that they raised U.S. production of those metals by $2.25 billion. They raised the price of imported steel and allowed domestic steel makers to charge higher prices in the absence of competition. That reduced U.S. production in industries that consume steel by $3.48 billion…

“This result is perfectly consistent with economic theory. The tariffs took money from a variety of industries and gave it to the steel companies, while lighting some money on fire along the way… The president’s insistence on wanting a manufacturing renewal should mean he wouldn’t want to raise the price of steel, a manufacturing input. But he simply thinks steel tariffs are the right thing to do. It’s a reflex.”

The Editors, National Review

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“According to one estimate from the Peterson Institute for International Economics, Trump’s [first term] metal tariffs — which were [mostly] lifted by the Biden administration — were on track to cost American consumers and businesses roughly $11.5 billion per year… [And] between January 2018 and October 2022, employment in America’s steel sector actually fell by 4.2 percent…

“It’s possible that job losses in steel would have been even higher, had the tariffs not been in place. The Alliance for American Manufacturing — a group that supported the tariffs — claimed in 2019 that they had saved or created roughly 12,700 jobs. And yet, if one takes that figure (as well as Peterson’s cost estimate) as gospel, Americans may have paid about $900,000 per steel job, far more than it would have cost to directly pay the salaries of each affected steelworker…

“The bigger problem with metal tariffs, though, is that far more American companies manufacture things out of steel than produce steel itself. According to one estimate, the number of Americans who work in steel-using industries outstrip those who work in steel production by an 80-to-1 margin… Trump’s policy reduced US manufacturing employment, according to a 2019 study from the Federal Reserve. The study implies that Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs cost the US about 75,000 manufacturing jobs.”

Eric Levitz, Vox

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“U.S. steel and aluminum firms enjoyed a surge in post-pandemic investment and consumer spending, and profits rolled in. But demand for the metals fell again as U.S. manufacturing struggled amid President Biden’s regulatory onslaught and higher interest rates. Domestic steel-making capacity utilization has fallen back to 70%, about the same as in 2016…

“Which is why U.S. steel and aluminum producers now want tariffs with no exemptions. They blame imports for reducing prices. But steel prices are about 50% higher than pre-pandemic levels and aluminum prices a third higher. Cleveland-Cliffs shares rose 17.9% Monday, and other steel makers by 5% or so in expectation of windfall tariff profits. This is political rent-seeking at its most brazen, and it benefits the few at the expense of the many.”

Editorial Board, Wall Street Journal

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“Unlike, say, mobile phones, computers, machinery and consumer goods, the US doesn’t get much of this stuff from its geopolitical rivals. Instead, it’s overwhelmingly from allies and countries that the US needs to keep on side… Canada and Mexico, the European Union, Brazil, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan combined account for 80% of US steel imports… Add in Bahrain, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates — home to three of the biggest overseas US military bases — and you’re looking at about 70% of imported aluminum, too.”

David Fickling, Bloomberg

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“Steel—whose prices could increase by ‘$100 to $150 a short ton’ because of the tariffs, according to an analysis from Citi Bank—and aluminum are used in everything from fossil fuels to green energy. Steel makes up 66 percent to 79 percent of a wind turbine's mass… Carbon steel forges, meanwhile, are commonly used in oil and gas pipelines because they can withstand high temperatures and pressure levels…

“Nuclear power plants are built primarily with concrete and steel. Vogtle Unit 4, which is the most recent nuclear power plant to be built in the U.S., required 330,000 pounds of stainless steel to build its reactor core cooling system… Imposing levies on steel and aluminum will increase costs for domestic energy projects (which will be passed on to consumers) while hamstringing America's energy dominance.”

Jeff Luse, Reason

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Other opinions below.