Trump is pushing for steel and aluminum tariffs as soon as next week.
The new tariffs will impose 25% tax on steel and 10% tax on aluminum. Trump doesn’t understand trade. He doesn’t understand comparative advantage. He never read Frederick Bastiat . Last year he decided to slap tariffs on lumber from Canada. We are all now paying for it.
Lumber is at an all time high. For the record, the US is by far the largest producer of lumber and plywood.
So what countries are likely to retaliate with their own tariffs?
China is the largest producer of aluminum with 53.8% of the world production.
The worlds largest producer of iron ore are Australia with 37.3% of world production, Brazil with 19.4%, and China with 11.9%. Most of the US imports of iron ore come from Brazil and Canada.
Since the USA is one of the largest exporter of nearly all food products, we can pretty much see where this is going.