SMU Market Trends: Tariffs on Canada, Mexico to Tighten Supplies?

Sixty-three percent of respondents to this week’s Steel Market Update market trends questionnaire expect steel supplies to tighten and prices to rise even further now that the Trump administration has revoked the exclusions and imposed Section 232 tariffs on steel imported from Canada, Mexico and the EU nations. The 25 percent tariffs took effect June 1.

The tariffs on the United States’ closest trading partners surprised and outraged many in the market, but the administration maintains they are necessary to prevent China and other predatory traders from transshipping steel through other nations as a means of circumventing U.S. duties. “Costs will keep going up as supply gets tighter,” said one respondent. “Canadian prices will drop and U.S. prices will rise,” predicted another.