Message on metal tariffs is bending

Exemptions might be granted after all

WASHINGTON — The White House said Wednesday that Mexico, Canada and other countries may be spared from President Donald Trump’s planned steel and aluminum tariffs under national security “carve-outs,” a move that could soften the blow amid threats of retaliation by trading partners and dire economic warnings from lawmakers and business groups.

Mr. Trump was expected to announce the tariffs by the end of the week — perhaps as early as noon Thursday.

Peter Navarro, Mr. Trump’s trade and manufacturing adviser, said in an interview on Fox Business that the tariffs would go into effect within about 15 to 30 days and the proclamation the president intends to sign would include a clause that would not immediately impose tariffs on Canada and Mexico.

Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters the exemptions would be made on a “case by case” and “country by country” basis, a reversal from the policy articulated by the White House just

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

U.S. Steel announced Wednesday that it will restart one of two blast furnaces and the steelmaking facilities at its Granite City Works in Illinois, recalling about 500 employees.

The mill restart comes on the heels of President Donald J. Trump’s announcement that he would be seeking tariffs of 25 percent on imported steel and 10 percent on aluminum. Getting the mill running again could take up to four months, the company said.

“Our Granite City Works facility and employees, as well as the surrounding community, have suffered too long from the unending waves of unfairly traded steel products that have flooded U.S. markets,” U.S. Steel president and CEO David B. Burritt said in a prepared statement.

The additional steel capacity will support an anticipated increase in the demand for steel, the company said.

The Granite City Works blast furnaces and steelmaking facilities were idled in December 2015 and the plant’s hot strip mill was idled in January 2016 in response to market conditions, including excess global capacity. The plant’s pickle line, cold mill and finishing lines at Granite City continued to operate in meeting customer demand.

The plant’s hot strip mill was restarted in February 2017. Granite City’s “A” blast furnace remains idled.