• Skip to main content

    Government/Policy

    Leibowitz: Trump's 10% threat and its potential impact

    Written by Lewis Leibowitz


    Trade is not the major focus of the campaigns for the 2024 elections, either at the presidential or congressional level. But it is there as a live issue for business.

    And last August, former President Trump suggested a 10% tariff on virtually all imports as a “ring around the collar” of the US economy. The imports that might be exempt are still in development. Could such products as semi-finished steel and primary aluminum be among them?

    Lewis Leibowitz, SMU Contributor

    Lewis Leibowitz

    Read more from Lewis Leibowitz

    Latest in Government/Policy

    Leibowitz: Will the next Congress take aim at Trump’s tariffs to address affordability concerns?

    The election last Tuesday was a stunning rebuke to President Trump and many of his policies. High prices and pessimism about the economy were clearly on the minds of voters and the members of Congress they sent to Washington. Trade policy can help address those issues. Some trade experts think the new Congress could deal with tariffs on imports from Canada early on. I also expect hearings and new bills to more closely control presidential authority over tariffs. Much is unknown about what will happen come January, when new members convene. But some points are already obvious to those who see politics as a means to an end (governing) rather than as an end in itself (getting elected).

    Canadian minister urges probe of Cliffs’ handling of Stelco

    Canadian Minister of Industry Melanie Joly has urged that Canada’s Competition Bureau examine Cleveland-Cliffs’ conduct in the Canadian marketplace following its Stelco acquisition. Minister Joly sent a letter to Jeanne Pratt, Commissioner of Competition, on Friday, regarding testimony Cliffs Chairman and CEO Lourenco Goncalves made to the US Congressional Steel Caucus, and a subsequent interview to the CBC. oly said that in the Caucus testimony, “Goncalves stated that his company had acquired Stelco to ‘block’ it from selling into the US market.”