I’m in the steel biz, Trump’s right about steel tariffs

AMERICAN INDUSTRY

The author, CEO of Novel Iron Works in Greenland, N.H. writes that starting in 1992 with the North American Free Trade Agreement and continuing to today, our domestic steel supply chain has been targeted by other countries. Above, the United States Steel Corporation’s Edgar Thomson Plant in Braddock, Pa. GENE J. PUSKAR — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

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By Hollie Noveletsky

President Trump’s tariffs are causing much consternation at the kitchen and business tables. Much of this anxiety comes from the rapid release of multiple executive orders on tariffs, making it difficult to grasp their individual and collective effects. Tariffs have been a trade tool that many countries, including the United States, have used for centuries.

The purpose of tariffs ranges from protecting national security interests to promoting and protecting domestic manufacturing from unfair trade policies by others. Trump has signed multiple executive orders that use tariffs to address three national concerns.

The first executive order was designed to protect our steel industry and ensure that our national security needs are met. The second order was intended to strengthen our borders from illegal immigration and to stop drug and human trafficking. The third group of executive orders was intended to address the unfair trade policies of countries that distort the concept of free trade.

I am grateful for these actions to protect our domestic steel industry. My family has been in the structural steel fabrication industry for three generations. In the United States, more than 1,000 SSF companies employ more than 80,000 workers. These numbers do not reflect those who are employed in the steel mills, steel erection industry, and vendors/supplies who directly support the SSF industry.

We are a critical link in the structural steel supply chain that builds our manufacturing facilities (such as ships and military bases), critical infrastructure (such as government buildings and water treatment plants), and telecommunications. The strength of our complete domestic structural steel supply chain, from melted and poured in the mills to erected in the field, is critical to our national security.

Starting in 1992 with the North American Free Trade Agreement and continuing to today, our domestic steel supply chain has been targeted by other countries.

China is now the world’s largest steel producer and exporter. China’s government-owned steel mills have flooded the world markets with cheap, dumped and subsidized raw materials. Other countries — Brazil, Mexico, South Korea, Vietnam and others — have targeted our domestic markets. January 2025, year over year, imports of heavy structural steel are up 53.6%, and collective imports of all steel mill products are up 20.3% year over year.

During Trump’s first term, he signed an executive order, Section 232, instituting tariffs on raw steel imports to protect our domestic steel mills from this global overproduction and the dumping of cheap, subsidized steel that undercut the health of our domestic steel mills. This action was necessary to ensure the strength of our domestic structural steel supply chain to meet the needs of our critical infrastructure projects.

At the time, our domestic mills were functioning below 80% capacity. Section 232 allowed our steel mills to increase production, restart shuttered mills, and rehire laid-off employees. The domestic steel mills could reinvest billions of dollars in technology and upgrades.

Unfortunately, after the institution of Section 232, the executive order’s intent was undermined by exemptions and quota systems for multiple foreign countries.

Countries, friends and foes quickly learned that they could circumvent the tariffs by punching a hole or welding a plate on the steel. Steel would no longer come into the United States as raw material but as fabricated under a different import code, bypassing tariffs. Subsequently, the United States has seen a significant increase in imports of foreign FSS.

Canada, Mexico and China ship large quantities of FSS to the United States. Canada represents 25% of the imports to the U.S. market. In 2024, Canada had an 8.1%, year over year, increase in exports to our markets.

Domestic fabricators cannot compete with foreign government-owned or subsidized companies. Wage discrepancies, OSHA requirements, government regulations, restrictions into reciprocal markets, energy costs and currency manipulation all play a role in countries’ ability to undermine our domestic structural steel supply chain and put our ability to meet national security needs at risk.

Trump’s executive order related to steel and aluminum tariffs ends the loopholes that allowed foreign countries to circumvent Section 232. In addition, his most recent round of retaliatory tariffs aims to protect our industrial manufacturing base from the unfair, non-tariff trade barriers that have taken advantage of our domestic steel industry.

After all, a country that doesn’t have a strong, resilient supply chain is vulnerable to the trade ethics of foreign countries.

We must strengthen and protect American manufacturing and the American worker.

Hollie Noveletsky is CEO of Novel Iron Works in Greenland, N.H. She wrote this for InsideSources.com.