Trump announces 50% tariff on steel and aluminium – why now? - video Dailymotion

CGTN Europe

CGTN Europe interviewed Harry Broadman, a former U.S. international trade negotiator.

Transcript

00:00And let's get some more analysis on this with Harry Broadman, a former international trade negotiator for the United States.

00:07Thank you very much indeed for joining us today.

00:09What's your take on why Donald Trump has decided to make this step now and increase tariffs,

00:15and could countermeasures perhaps change his mind again?

00:19Well, as we've seen, there isn't a tariff that Mr. Trump does not like.

00:23In this particular case, obviously this was a setting for him to give a speech and a rally about the Nippon-U.S. steel merger,

00:34so it was not surprising that he would add the tariff issue to that party, if you will.

00:4250% is obviously not an insignificant increase in the size of tariffs,

00:47and so it's not surprising that the EU, Canada, Australia and other steel-producing and aluminum-producing countries would object.

00:58And we just heard in Rahul's report that this step could be music to the ears of blue-collar workers in America.

01:05Would high tariffs on steel and aluminium really help U.S. producers in the long run, in the short run as well?

01:12Well, probably in neither case.

01:16I mean, if at best it could be the short run, but the long run, no tariffs generally,

01:21and I'm not being a religious fanatic here, but tariffs are price hikes in essence,

01:27and what that means is it's going to force industries who use steel and aluminium in the U.S.

01:33and others will shift to cheaper goods produced in the U.S. or elsewhere.

01:41It depends on how sweeping these tariffs are.

01:44It also has an inflationary impact because, as we know, steel and aluminium are inputs into a lot of goods into America.

01:51And so, you know, like any economic problem or issue, you know, there's a question of dividing the pie.

01:57How much does it go to workers?

01:58How much does it go to shareholders?

02:00And how much does it go to consumers?

02:02In this particular case, it's quite a poignant episode because he's in the middle of negotiating this long-running issue

02:11between the Nippon Steel Company from Japan and U.S. Steel, where he was.

02:17And so one should not be surprised that he did this.

02:20Again, as I say, you know, he's tariff-hungry everywhere he goes,

02:26but I just don't think this is going to work out to help the American economy be much stronger

02:31and actually probably not even help the workers all that much

02:35because the price of goods that they have to buy, you know, with their wages now

02:39will increase from all the steel embodied in the products that they're buying.

02:43So, ultimately, it will lead to further inflationary pressures.

02:49What role do you see the WTO having, the World Trade Organization?

02:53Do you see further disputes being settled there?

02:58It could, but I think at this point, you know, a lot of this is happening on a bilateral basis.

03:03There will certainly be, I suspect, a complaint, you know, drafted for the WTO consideration.

03:09But, you know, I think it's also important to know Mr. Trump's track record in slapping on tariffs.

03:16Some of this, maybe a lot of this is for effect, and we should not be surprised at that he backs off.

03:21Maybe wholly, maybe just in part, but, you know, he's putting tariffs on and off.

03:27And I think the real story here, frankly, for the steel industry, if not for the U.S. economy

03:31and the world economy as a whole, is he is injecting just greater uncertainty

03:35about what investors should invest in, what consumers should buy, and the like.

03:41And so, this entire tariff game, this shell game that he's been playing,

03:45really, you know, is pretty, you know, chaotic, to be blunt.

03:50And I'm not sure that it's sustainable.

03:52Well, we really appreciate your insights on this today.

03:54Thank you so much for joining us.

03:56Harry Braumann, former international trade negotiator for the U.S.

03:59We'll see you next time.

Trump announces 50% tariff on steel and aluminium – why now?

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