Key takeout
Shares of several US steelmakers surged in indoor trading on Monday following the announcement that President Donald Trump plans to double tariffs on steel imports to 50%.
Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF) stocks rose 24% an hour before the opening bell, but Steel Dynamics (STLD) and Nucor (NUE) stocks rose about 11% and commercial metals (CMC) 8%.
Trump made an announcement at the US Steel (X) facility in Pennsylvania on Friday, highlighting his recent support for a “partnership” between American steelmakers and Nippon Steel after the Biden administration rejected a Japanese company’s proposed takeover of national security concerns. U.S. steel shares had been recovering since the announcement, but little changed on Monday morning.
Trump said at an event Friday that doubled steel tariffs would protect US jobs and encourage more businesses to source from American steelmakers. Research shows that while the 25% tariffs imposed on steel and aluminum imports during Trump’s first term boosted employment in industry, rising metal costs slowed employment in other sectors, far outweighed the rise in manufacturing employment.
According to the US Steel Institute, the US imports almost a quarter of the steel it uses each year, bringing in just under 29 million tons of completed and raw steel products from Canada, Brazil, Mexico and other countries in 2024.
