Steel-tariff decision delayed for tax bill

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said the Trump administration has decided to defer a decision on steel tariffs as it focuses on getting a tax overhaul bill through Congress.

“The policy decision has been made to postpone that until the tax bill,” Ross said Friday in an interview on Bloomberg Television, when asked about his department’s review of the national security implications of steel imports.

Shares of major U.S. steel-makers declined after Ross’ remarks. U.S. Steel Corp. dropped the most, falling as much as 6.1 percent and extending its two-day decline, while Nucor Corp., AK Steel Holding Corp. and Steel Dynamics Inc. also fell.

The Commerce Department will give President Donald Trump a range of options when it reports its findings on the steel investigation, said Ross. But overhauling the tax system is the “single most important”’ thing on the administration’s agenda, one that will drive job creation, he said.

“It’s not so much a question of backing away, it’s a question of timing,” Ross said earlier Friday in an interview on CNBC, in which he was asked repeatedly about when his department would announce trade decisions, including on steel. “Tax is extremely important because that’s the biggest single incremental factor in getting growth over 3 percent,” he said. — Bloomberg News