Features

Join SMU for a Community Chat With Timna Tanners on Wednesday at 11 am ET!
Written by Michael Cowden
June 6, 2025
Timna Tanners, managing director of equity research for Wolfe Research, will be the featured speaker on the next SMU Community Chat.
The webinar will be on Wednesday, June 11, at 11 am ET. It’s free to attend. You can register here.
Tanners has coined the terms “Sheet Storm”, “Galv Galore”, and “Rebarmageddon”. Her forecasts and insights are always thought provoking. And she’s not afraid to speak her mind, so it’s no surprise that she’s always one of our most popular guests!
The big question
Start with a big dose of AD/CVDs, Section 232s, and other tariffs. Mix in Sheet Storm, Galv Galore, and Rebarmageddon. And the question that emerges is this: Does the US steel industry still need imports?
Here are some other topics we’ll explore:
The state of steel. Newsflow is up. But prices have been grinding lower since “Liberation Day.” When does that dynamic change? Will there be a summer restock? And will demand improve in 2H?
Trade and tariffs. Some people are for tariffs, some people are against them – almost everyone is fed up with tariff uncertainty. How and when does tariff drama end?
New capacity. Nucor is building a sheet mill in W.Va. But that’s not the end of the new capacity story. South Korean steelmaker Hyundai plans to build a mill in Louisiana. Japanese steelmaker Nippon Steel might build a new mill in the US as part of its deal for U.S. Steel. What does that mean not only for imports but also for older capacity?
Aluminum! We just launched an aluminum publication – Aluminum Market Update (AMU)! So nonferrous content is now welcome here.
And we’ll take your questions. So bring some good ones to the Q&A on Wednesday, June 11, at 11 a.m. ET!
Editor’s note: Barry Zekelman, executive chairman and CEO of Zekelman Industries, joined us for a spirited Community Chat earlier this month. You can find a recording of that one and other past Chats here.

Michael Cowden
Read more from Michael CowdenLatest in Features

Final Thoughts
We just wrapped another Steel 101 Workshop, where you take what you learned in the classroom into the steel mill.

Leibowitz: Tariffs are the trade version of going nuclear
In short, when tariffs go up, jobs in consuming industries go down. There is conclusive evidence from past actions: safeguard tariffs in 2002 and Section 232 tariffs in 2018. It is happening again in 2025. The Trump administration wants foreign producers (and US retailers) to absorb tariff increases (except in antidumping cases, where foreign absorption of tariffs is illegal).

Survey says: Market hit with another blast of tariff whiplash
If you’re feeling a sudden jerk and a case of tariff whiplash coming on, you’re not alone.

SMU’s Week in Review: June 9-13
More developments with USS-Nippon. A look at whether imports will be needed. The latest prices. And more.

Nippon exec responds after Trump ‘golden share’ comments: Report
A Nippon executive has hit back regarding the deal for USS following President Trump's talk of a "golden share" on Thursday.