President Donald Trump highlighted his announcement that he's doubling the tariff on steel imports to 50 percent with a seeming contradiction.
The president spoke last week at U.S. Steel’s Mon Valley Works–Irvin Plant in suburban Pittsburgh, where he told steelworkers he was boosting the tariffs starting Wednesday to protect their industry, and he reposted video of that speech – along with a vapid sales pitch – on Truth Social.
"With the help of Patriots like you, we're going to produce our own metal, unleash our own energy, secure our own future, build our Country, control our destiny and we are once again going to put Pennsylvania steel into the backbone of America like never before!" Trump posted Monday afternoon and left pinned to the top of his social media page.
Copy editors and pedants may debate whether it's possible to "once again" make Pennsylvania the backbone of the U.S. steel industry "like never before," but economists agree the dramatically higher tariffs would further drive up prices for housing, autos and other goods.
“Twenty-five percent tariffs were already high,” Kyle Handley, a professor of economics at the University of California, San Diego, told ABC News. “Fifty percent is incredibly high.”
The president also announced that aluminum tariffs would also be doubled to 50 percent, also starting Wednesday, which could drive up prices for food and beverages by about 1 percent for each can of soup or soda, Hauk said.
“It isn’t a huge amount on its own," Hauk said, "but if you think about the number of sodas or beers people have out of aluminum cans in a given year, it adds up over time."
Steel prices have risen 16 percent since Trump became president, according to the government's Producer Price Index.