US Steel is hiring in the wake of President Donald Trump’s steel tariffs, CBS Pittsburgh says, citing a CNN Money report.
US Steel said Tuesday it’s restarting the second of two blast furnaces at its plant in Granite City, Illinois, near St. Louis. It will bring on 300 workers to support the effort.
The company previously announced it would reopen the first furnace, which would create 500 positions to be filled by new and returning employees.
“After careful consideration of market conditions and customer demand, including the impact of Section 232, the restart of the two blast furnaces at Granite City Works will allow us to serve our customers’ growing demand for high quality products melted and poured in the United States,” US Steel CEO David Burritt said in a press release.
Section 232 refers to the part of the trade law Trump invoked in March when he imposed steep tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, citing national security concerns.
While waivers were at first granted to US allies, Trump last week slapped a 25 percent tariff on steel imports and a 10 percent tariff on aluminum imports from Canada, Mexico and the European Union.
All three are retaliating with their own tariffs on US goods.
US Steel has praised the tariffs and said they’re good for its business. The company sys the penalties level the playing field for domestic steelmakers that have long been hurt by cheap foreign steel that was dumped into the US market.
While Trump’s trade policy has rattled steel stocks, one team of analysts has released a note suggesting that the trade threat may not be so bad, Investopedia says. Even those with large U.S. businesses should be able to avoid a major hit from import levies, according to a New York investment firm, and as outlined in a recent Barron’s report.
Many factors, such as geopolitical instability in countries like Italy, have caused a surge of volatility in the ninth year of the bull market. This has lowered U.S. equities by about 3.5 percent from highs in January, but still securing a 3.7 percent gain for the S&P 500 year-to-date (YTD).
While taxes on goods coming into the U.S. hurts foreign companies that rely on sales in America, Stephen Wood, chief market strategist at Russell Investments, said he expects steel and aluminum exporters Arcelor Mittal and Rio Tinto to feel little effect.
“What gets tweeted and what happens is actually quite different,” said Wood. “Tariffs are not as mono-dimensional for these globally diversified metals and mining companies as they once were.” He suggested that many companies can easily shift production to the U.S., where they already have operations, and avoid tariffs.
