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    December 16, 2025

    Join SMU and AMU for a Community Chat with Wells Fargo Managing Director Timna Tanners

    Written by Michael Cowden

    SMU and AMU are pleased to announce that Wells Fargo Managing Director Timna Tanners will be joining us for a Community Chat webinar on Wednesday, Dec. 17, at 11 am ET.

    The live webinar is free for anyone to attend. You can register here. (Editor’s note: A recording and the accompanying slide decks will be available only to SMU and AMU subscribers.)

    Tanners earned fame (and some notoriety) for her “Sheet Storm” hypothesis. All that capacity she warned about – whether hot-rolled (HR) coil or galvanized (remember “Galv Galore“?) – has arrived or is on its way.

    Yet Tanners predicted at Steel Summit in August that sheet prices would be higher in Q4 and that hot-rolled (HR) coil could end the year around $900 per short ton (st). Her call has proven to be spot on: SMU’s HR price now stands at $895/st on average.

    What changed? In a nutshell, TACO (“Trump Always Chickens Out”) doesn’t seem to apply when it comes to tariffs on imported steel. And, it turns out, “No Steel TACO” trumps “Sheet Storm.”

    Tanners will discuss why that is, and what her forecast is for 2026.

    We’ll talk about aluminum, too. Section 232 tariffs caused Midwest premiums to spike to unheard-of levels. So, what happens if there is no aluminum TACO, either?

    We’ll, in addition, discuss the battle for market share between steel and aluminum in automotive. Could the skyrocketing price for aluminum drive more automakers and parts suppliers to switch back to steel in a big way, or will any gains be more measured?

    And we’ll of course take your questions, too. So don’t forget to bring some good ones to the Q&A.

    Michael Cowden

    Michael Cowden is editor-in-chief for Steel Market Update. Cowden has covered the steel industry since 2007. He specializes in flat-rolled steel but has also reported on steel long products, steel pipe and tube, and aluminum. Before joining SMU, Cowden held reporting jobs at Fastmarkets AMM in Chicago, the Associated Press in Pittsburgh, and the Cambodia Daily in Phnom Penh. He has also worked as a copy editor and in marketing at the University of Chicago Press. Cowden has a BA in English from the University of Chicago and an MSJ journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. Contact him at michael@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-759-7872.

    Read more from Michael Cowden

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