Steel industry and labor emphasize importance of steel tariffs and urge Biden to keep them in place

Seven of the leading groups representing the domestic steel industry and labor today urged President Joe Biden to ensure steel tariffs, put in place in 2018 to protect national security, are preserved.

The American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC), American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), United Steelworkers union (USW), Steel Manufacturers Association (SMA), The Committee on Pipe and Tube Imports (CPTI), Specialty Steel Industry of North America (SSINA), and Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM) today wrote to President Biden stating, “Eliminating the steel tariffs now would undermine the viability of [the American steel] industry. Opponents of the steel tariffs argue that they should be eliminated to increase supply, given the current environment of rising prices and long lead times. This ignores the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic has posed unprecedented, but temporary, challenges to global supply chains in many industries—including lumber, semiconductors, concrete, agricultural products and cleaning products—as manufacturers respond to rapid and unpredictable shifts in customer demand and logistical difficulties. The same is true for steel.”

The groups note that “domestic steel supply is responding to market signals.” Steel production has increased by more than 50 percent in the last year and steel mill employment has increased by nearly 3,000 since September. The groups also state that, since the tariffs took effect, American steel producers have announced plans to invest more than $15.7 billion in new or upgraded facilities.