Pretty much anything you can think of that contains steel or aluminum will now be tariffed.
In February, President Trump imposed a 25 percent tariff on all imported steel and aluminum from all countries, hiking the rate to 50 percent in June. There was never a good reason for these tariffs, which have raised input prices for countless domestic manufacturers and builders, but at least they applied only to those two metals. Not anymore. Now, those “steel and aluminum” tariffs apply to pretty much anything you can think of that contains, or could be used to produce, either substance.
The Trump administration announced earlier this week that it had expanded the tariffs to include 407 additional categories of products. Because of America’s incredibly complex tariff schedule of over 17,000 categories — which far predates Trump’s trade war, by the way — the official list of added products is indecipherable. But, according to CNBC, the tariff list “now covers products such as fire extinguishers, machinery, construction materials and specialty chemicals that either contain, or are contained in, aluminum or steel.”
Here is a list of just some of the 407 imported products (whose tariff schedule codes I selected from the list and looked up at random) whose metal content will now cost 50 percent more. Remember, these all currently fall under tariffs on “steel and aluminum”:
- 0402.99.68: Condensed milk (so long as it comes in a steel or aluminum container)
- 8428.70.00: Industrial robots
- 3214.10.00: Glazier’s putty, grafting putty, resin cements, caulking compounds and other mastics; painters’ fillings
- 8215.91.30: Forks
- 8504.90.9642: Wound cores for incorporation into transformers
- 3405.10.00: Polishes, creams, and similar preparations for footwear or leather
- 8607.30.1050: Freight rail coupler parts
- 8702.10.31: Motor vehicles designed for the transport of 16 or more persons, including the driver
- 9403.99.9015: Furniture (and parts thereof) for play yards and other enclosures for children
- 3305.30.00: Hair lacquers
All of these products are being taxed under the authority of Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. That law allows the president to slap tariffs on imports that the secretary of commerce has determined “threaten or impair” the country’s national security. Certainly, the excessive importation of condensed milk and hair spray is a grave threat to U.S. national security. And we can be sure that the analysis by our secretary of commerce, Howard Lutnick, was completely independent and objective.
How did these enlightened minds come up with a list of tariffed products so comprehensive as to include baby strollers, motorcycles, and spray deodorant? (A few good ones I missed.) As Daniel Hannan at the Washington Examiner notes, the Commerce Department “specifically invited domestic producers to suggest items for inclusion.” That’s right, U.S. manufacturing firms were asked to lobby the government to tax their foreign competitors’ exports. For national security!
What’s sad is that these Section 232 tariffs cannot be struck down by the ongoing legal challenge to Trump’s suite of country-specific tariffs, as those fall under a different statute, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). So, even if the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals rules correctly in that case, we can still expect to pay extra on forks and fire extinguishers for the foreseeable future. Plus, countless American businesses that import goods as inputs or for resale will need to chase down suppliers to figure out exactly what percent of their products are made of steel or aluminum. All thanks to the president whom voters elected to tamp down inflation and ease the federal regulatory burden.