Here’s a letter I sent to the WSJ a little over a week ago:
Dear Editor,
President Trump’s actions vis-a-vis the steel industry contain both good and bad (“America’s New Steel Curtain,” Review & Outlook, June 1, 2025). It avoids a monopoly in the domestic steel industry and, as I wrote before, allows for new leadership and investment, both of which U.S. Steel desperately needs. However, the article reveals a stunning and simple truth: tariffs are not characterized by "short term pains for long term gains," as the Administration has alleged. In fact, they cause short term pains followed by even greater long term pains.
Consider the 2018 tariffs, which initially saved about 1,000 jobs in the steel and aluminum producing sector at the expense of 75,000 jobs in the manufacturing sector. Employment in steel and aluminum production surged in the months after the tariffs were enacted in April of 2018. Today, they are flat relative to where they were before the tariffs, reflecting reduced overall demand for our steel and aluminum as producers find new ways to economize on the bureaucratically-imposed higher prices for these goods.
Tariffs are a rotten deal for the American people. The rot that is felt in the short term only spreads in the long term. We need to move away from these policies and embrace trade liberalization if we truly want to restore American industry, including steel and aluminum production.
David Hebert
Senior Research Fellow, American Institute for Economic Research
Grand Rapids, MI