By Supporters’ Own Standards, the Steel Tariffs Haven’t Been “Effective”
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In an interview with MSNBC last Thursday, new Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo spoke highly of the "national security" tariffs that President Trump placed on steel and aluminum imports in 2018 under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. According to Secretary Raimondo, "[t]he data show that those tariffs have been effective." As my colleague Simon Lester noted at the time, it's not entirely clear whether Raimondo's opinion was specific to China or the Section 232 tariffs more broadly, and she amplified the confusion by immediately following her remark with a note that the Biden administration is still reviewing the tariffs before deciding what to do with them. Nevertheless, there's little to suggest that the tariffs have been "effective" - even by tariff