The Trump administration has backed off tariffs on Colombia after the White House said the leader of the Latin American nation agreed to President Trump’s demands. “The Government of Colombia has agreed to President Trump’s terms, including the unrestricted acceptance of illegal aliens from Colombia returned from the United States… without limitation or delay,” according […]
President Donald Trump on Sunday hammered Colombia with 25% tariffs and threatened to increase them to 50%. Trump in a post on Truth Social said he took the action not because of a trade dispute but because the South American nation had refused to accept planes carrying deported immigrants. The president also cited "national security" concerns, just as he did to justify 25% Section 232 tariffs on steel in his first term. Even the 50% threat echoes his first term. Turkish steel, like that of most nations, was assessed a 25% tariff in March 2018. Trump doubled Turkey's tariff to 50% via a tweet in August of that year over a matter unrelated to steel.
Day One of the second Trump administration did not bring tariffs, but it did signal that tariffs, and other major trade actions, are not far off.
Executive orders, LME volatility and more
Alan Kestenbaum was the featured speaker at SMU’s Community Chat on Wednesday, where he discussed US Steel, tariffs, climate policy and other topics.
Sometimes new presidential administrations hit the ground running. No time for change like the present. And sometimes new administrations blast off on a SpaceX rocket bound for Mars. There’s a big universe, and we’ve got a lot of flags to plant. Such seems to be the case with the new Trump administration.
President Donald Trump said on Monday evening that he was considering placing tariffs of 25% on imports from Canada and Mexico. The president said the tariffs could go into effect as soon as Feb. 1. President Trump threatened the tariffs as he signed a raft of executive orders in front of reporters in the Oval […]
I wrote in a Final Thoughts a few years ago that it seemed all the swans were black. More recently, I’ve been asked by some of you what the wildcards are for 2025. You could probably make the case that all the cards are wild now.
We’ll talk about what to expect from the incoming Trump administration, the changing trade and tariff landscape, and what it all means for the domestic steel industry.
AGC said Trump should be “sparing” in imposing new tariffs and exclude products needed for domestic manufacturing, energy and infrastructure.
We are quickly approaching Inauguration Day. The market still has no definitive clue as to how the Trump administration will execute on its threat to apply universal tariffs to all imports. Compounding this are the threats to apply 25% duties against our USMCA partners - Canada and Mexico.
It feels a little like déjà vu: Trump threatens tariffs, Canada retaliates with tariffs of its own.
Steel Manufacturers Association (SMA) President Philip K. Bell will join SMU for our first Community Chat of 2025. We’ll talk about what to expect from the incoming Trump administration, the changing trade and tariff landscape – and what it all means for domestic steelmakers, service centers, and manufacturers. Don’t miss out! Mark your calendar for Jan. 15 at 11 am ET.
The Trump administration may be considering alternative tariff plans, but Trump said the report is "Fake News."
And just like that, we’re wrapping up the last SMU newsletter of 2024. We’re closing out our 19th year and looking with wide-eyed anticipation to what 2025 will bring.
Recovery continues but geopolitical risks remain for 2025
This CRU Insight discusses a few key topics our clients have been asking about as 2024 comes to a close and 2025 begins. This piece introduces these topics briefly now before we discuss them in more detail in a webinar in January 2025. In previous years, we have published a year-end Insight on our ‘Top […]
“New commodity-specific tariffs, mainly on steel and aluminum products, could widen price differentials and divert trade flows,” the credit agency forewarned.
The world has had a few shocks recently. The CEO of a major health insurance company was gunned down in Manhattan. The 50-year Assad dynasty in Syria was pushed out less than two weeks after rebels started an offensive. And President-elect Trump is promising tariffs on everything a month before he takes office. But one shock has been taking place for a lot longer than the last few weeks. The 70-year consensus on trade hasn’t just been challenged. It’s been repudiated.
“There’s no sugar coating it – 2024 has been a challenging year,” the economist for ITR said.
With just over a month to go until Inauguration Day on Jan. 20, President-elect Donald Trump has already signaled some of his policy choices that will affect the steel industry.
We focused on trade actions the second Trump administration might take in a prior column. Since then, we have learned more about the individuals who will be leading these efforts. Recent nominations reinforce the president-elect’s statements that tariffs will feature prominently in the second administration and that trade actions will be unveiled at lightning speed.
Transition to a new administration is always uncertain. This one is more uncertain than most.
Following the short-lived East Coast port labor strike in October, we now turn toward the Jan. 15 deadline to reach a long-term agreement.
“We are under constant threat from nonmarket economies who evade our trade laws," SMA said.
American and Canadian steel trade groups, as well as the government of Mexico, have responded to President-elect Trump's threat of imposing 25% tariffs on all US imports from Canada and Mexico and a 10% tariff on imports from China.
And so it begins (again). Not to be outdone by Thanksgiving, President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to impose tariffs of 25% on all imports from Canada and Mexico. He also threatened to hit all imports from China with tariffs of 10% - an amount that would come on top of a boatload of pre-existing duties and tariffs.
President-elect Donald Trump threatened on social media Monday evening to impose tariffs of 25% on all US imports from Canada and Mexico.
Are you still recovering from the election? If so, please get plenty of rest. Next year will require you to be awake and alert. Things are likely to change. We can’t be sure exactly how they will change yet.
China is one of the elephants in the room as the transition to Trump 2.0 continues. While the people and policies are still being formulated, it’s possible to detect a strategy for the new Trump administration. I think there are two imperative issues that the new administration needs to balance. The Trump strategy will, I believe, follow the following points. First, trade is one of the issues that got President Trump elected in 2016 and 2024—it nearly got him elected in 2020, save for the pandemic. If President Trump had won in 2020, I might be writing chronicles about the end of his eight years in the White House now instead of projecting what the next Trump administration would accomplish or break. Oh, well—that’s life. Trade will necessarily be a key feature of relations with China for the next four years.