> Good year for U.S. steelmakers,

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has chosen an odd time to offer special protection to the U.S. steel industry.

As U.S. President Donald Trump prepares to impose a 25 per cent tax on imported steel, America’s steelmakers are actually faring pretty well: The U.S. steel industry last year earned more than $2.8 billion, up from $714 million in 2016 and a loss in 2015, according to the Commerce Department. And the industry added more than 8,000 jobs between January 2017 and January 2018.

Even before Trump mentioned the tariff last Thursday, the price of the benchmark U.S.-made hot-rolled steel had reached the highest level since May 2011, according to S&P Global Platts. The price surged even higher on the tariff news.

“We finished 2017 in a good position. We look forward to 2018,” U.S. Steel CEO David Burritt told industry analysts Feb. 1, according to a transcript. He continued: “We’re seeing increased demand from our customers and have rescheduled some projects to ensure that we can make enough steel to support our customers’ needs.”

Still, the steel companies complain they’re victims of unfair foreign competition. “The industry isn’t doing as bad as their press releases say it is,” said steel analyst Charles Bradford, president of Bradford Research. “Any time world economic growth is over three per cent, the steel industry usually does OK.”

The International Monetary Fund said the global economy grew 3.7 per cent last year and expects it to grow 3.9 per cent in 2018.

The U.S. economy grew 2.3 per cent last year, an improvement on 1.5 per cent growth in 2016. Also raising demand for steel: Florida and Texas are rebuilding after last year’s ruinous hurricanes.

Most American steel is now made at super-efficient mini mills, which use electric arc furnaces to turn scrap metal into steel.