Trump claim on steel lacks needed additional context

American aluminum and steel “are vital to our national security . ... They are the bedrock of our defense industrial base.” — President Donald Trump on March 8 in remarks before a Cabinet meeting

In an undated but recent memo, Defense Secretary James Mattis acknowledged concerns about “unfair trade practices,” but emphasized “the U.S. military requirements for steel and aluminum each only represent about 3 percent of U.S. production.” In other words, production in the United States is more than 30 times the amount required to satisfy Defense Department needs.

However, the decision to impose tariffs for steel and aluminum imports was based on a different argument by the Commerce Department, which, in a pair of January 2018 reports, concluded that imports were “weakening our internal economy.” It noted that the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 requires the president to recognize “the impact of foreign competition on the economic welfare of individual domestic industries” and consider whether “excessive imports” weaken the economy and thus “impair the national security.”

Our ruling

Military purchases account for a small fraction of U.S. production of steel and aluminum, but the 1962 law used as justification for the tariffs allows a more expansive definition of national security.

Because this claim needs so much additional context, we rate the statement Half True.

President Donald Trump has spoken out about steel.