Trump steel tariffs expanded to hit home appliances

Miami Herald

19 hours ago

WASHINGTON -- Washing machines, refrigerators and other common household appliances made with steel parts will soon be subject to expanded tariffs, the Commerce Department said Thursday.
The department said in a notice that levies would take effect on so-called steel derivative products June 23 and will be set at 50%, the current level for all other steel and aluminum imports. The new tariffs will apply to the value of steel content in each import, the notice said.
While many products have become subject to higher import taxes since President Donald Trump began implementing his aggressive trade policy, Thursday's announcement marked one of the first times this year that everyday consumer goods were specifically targeted. The result will also apply to imported dishwashers, dryers, stoves and food waste disposals, and could translate into higher costs for American households.
Thursday's move came one week after the Trump administration doubled tariffs on steel and aluminum products -- and it follows wave after wave of similar moves that have targeted cars, auto parts and other goods from many of America's trading partners. The government said that the action was necessary to address 'trade practices that undermine national security.' The new tariffs are meant to shield American-made appliances that are made with steel from cheaper foreign-made products.
The higher metal levies have rankled close allies that sell to the United States, including Canada, Mexico and Europe. They have also sent alarms to automakers, plane manufacturers, homebuilders, oil drillers and other companies that rely on buying metals.
They are beginning to ripple across supply chains.
Companies that use steel and aluminum to manufacture products like washing machines and dishwashers in the United States have had to pay higher costs for the steel and aluminum they purchase. That, in turn, makes their products more expensive -- and less competitive with appliances made in other countries, where manufacturers may not be subject to the same tariffs.
So the Trump administration created what it called an 'inclusion' process to allow U.S. manufacturers that use steel and aluminum in their factories to petition to have tariffs applied to their foreign competitors' goods as well. Those tariffs will in theory help protect U.S. appliance manufacturers against foreign factories that can purchase steel and aluminum more cheaply, and therefore sell their goods at lower prices.
Despite Trump's tariffs, measures of inflation have so far remained muted. Price increases were relatively stable last month, government data showed Wednesday, and the costs of appliances in particular have increased more slowly than overall inflation did last month.
Economists caution, however, that the growing list of tariffs could begin to push up prices more noticeably later this year.
Trump's economic advisers have tried to downplay the economic toll their trade actions take on American consumers.
At a Senate hearing Thursday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent noted that many companies are opting against passing the costs of tariffs onto their consumers and said that inflation remains under control.
'Inflation in the U.S. is at its slowest pace since 2021 on decelerating cost increases for shelter, food and energy,' Bessent said. 'After four years of price increases diminishing the U.S. standard of living, inflation is showing substantial improvement due to the administration's policies.'
In his first term, Trump imposed tariffs on foreign-made washing machines in a bid to bolster domestic manufacturers. Economic research found those tariffs encouraged companies to shift more manufacturing into the United States, but at very steep cost to consumers: About 1,800 new jobs were created, but consumers paid, in total, about $817,000 per job.
And the tariffs drove up not just the cost of washing machines, but also dryers -- which were not subject to tariffs, but are often purchased together.
Economic studies of the steel tariffs from Trump's first term have come to similar conclusions, finding that the levies stimulated the domestic industry but also at significant costs. An analysis published in 2023 by the U.S. International Trade Commission, an independent, bipartisan agency, found that the metal tariffs encouraged buyers of steel and aluminum to purchase more from American sources, and expanded U.S. steel and aluminum production by about $2.25 billion in 2021.
But they raised production costs for firms making automobiles, tools and industrial machinery, which use large amounts of metal in their manufacturing. That shrank production in those and other downstream industries by about $3.48 billion in 2021, more than offsetting the gains to metal makers.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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