NYT: Steel Giants With Ties to Trump Officials Block Tariff Relief for Hundreds of Firms

WASHINGTON — Two of America’s biggest steel manufacturers — both with deep ties to administration officials — have successfully objected to hundreds of requests by American companies that buy foreign steel to exempt themselves from President Trump’s stiff metal tariffs. They have argued that the imported products are readily available from American steel manufacturers.

Charlotte-based Nucor, which financed a documentary film made by a top trade adviser to Mr. Trump, and Pittsburgh-based United States Steel, which has previously employed several top administration officials, have objected to 1,600 exemption requests filed with the Commerce Department over the past several months.
To date, their efforts have never failed, resulting in denials for companies that are based in the United States but rely on imported pipes, screws, wire and other foreign steel products for their supply chains.
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Department officials said on Friday that they have not granted a single steel exclusion request that drew an objection. They have granted 20 aluminum exclusions over an objection, because the objecting company did not actually cite the product in question.

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MTAtech said:

From the New York Times
Exact title: Steel Giants With Ties to Trump Officials Block Tariff Relief for Hundreds of Firms

Snippet:

The swamp lives! Just have connections in the Trump Admin and get them to deny meritorious exemptions to add to company profits. The idea that conservatives believe in not picking winners and losers was been thrown out of the window.

Moreover, tariffs are one thing; tariffs that are enforced selectively, at the discretion of political appointees, are much worse -- an open invitation to corruption.

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trouble13 said:

What are the meritorious reasons that justify exemptions?

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MTAtech said:

From the New York Times
Exact title: Steel Giants With Ties to Trump Officials Block Tariff Relief for Hundreds of Firms

Snippet:

The swamp lives! Just have connections in the Trump Admin and get them to deny meritorious exemptions to add to company profits. The idea that conservatives believe in not picking winners and losers was been thrown out of the window.

Moreover, tariffs are one thing; tariffs that are enforced selectively, at the discretion of political appointees, are much worse -- an open invitation to corruption.

Click to expand...

Thoreau72 said:

Yes, fascism thrives in the open here in the United States.

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