the united states is the world s largest steel importer. 26.9 million metric tons of steel imported into the u.s. in 2017. here is the interesting thing. if you thought this was all about china, the top ten sources of steel imports in the u.s., they are not china. number one is canada. brazil, south korea, ten of the top 12 are allies of the u.s. aluminum, china s number three. canada, 43%, the number one exporter into the u.s. of aluminum. what about this and where it heads? let s bring the panel. mike allen, cofounder of axios. katie pavlich, mo elleithee. my, there s a big battle on this issue. the president campaigned on it. shouldn t be a surprise.
protect vital american industries. critics say it will backfire, who hurt u.s. consumers and possibly ignite a trade war. john roberts starts us off tonight with another presidential move very few people saw coming. the timing of all this, the announcement took everyone by surprise. the white house hasn t figured out how this is going to work but the president was eager to get the word out. thank you very much, everyone. wasn t on his public schedule today, and the white house insisted an announcement wasn t coming until next week. today president trump unveiled punitive sanctions on foreign aluminum and steel. 25% for steel. 10% for aluminum. it will be for a long period of time. the ad lib announcement blindsided white house staff. the press secretary insisted it shouldn t be a surprise.