CHEYENNE — Early in his second stint in office, President Donald Trump has announced that he will once again impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, something he imposed in 2018 and former President Joe Biden lifted last May.
While it is unclear what impact this will have on the domestic market and the American consumer, how things played out in 2018 could offer a vague idea of what to expect.
Puma Steel is a Cheyenne-based steel fabricator and steel supplier. Company President Rex Lewis said that the tariffs will have a significant impact on the steel fabrication industry, but the change will be good for the market overall.
“There’s been a few price increases in the last month on flat roll, and the other products have been stable,” Lewis told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle. “We believe that, in part, because of recovery of the market in general, but also because of the tariffs, we’re going to see price increases through the middle of the summer.”
Lewis said, regardless of the tariffs, the market for construction will remain.
Puma Steel manufactures steel for construction companies across Colorado and Wyoming. Lewis said he sees the demand for construction growing, especially with the national surge in construction of data centers.
While customers may have to pay more for steel or aluminum products in the coming months, Lewis said it is worth it to invest in higher-quality steel and products that protect the American worker at a fraction of the carbon footprint.
According to the International Trade Administration, U.S. companies import only about 26% of the steel they use.
The rest is domestically produced. Further, U.S. iron and steel producers are operating at only about 70% capacity according to Federal Reserve data.
One of Trump’s goals with these tariffs is to increase that capacity to maximize domestic production.
However, as seen in 2018, prices are expected to increase and be passed on to the American consumer.
In 2023, the U.S. International Trade Commission found that the tariffs increased the average prices of steel and aluminum by 2.4% and 1.6%, harming “downstream” industries that use steel and aluminum in their production processes like home builders and beverage companies.
The National Association of Home Builders published a statement on its website stating that these tariffs will, in effect, act as a tax on American builders, home buyers and consumers.
“Tariffs on building materials raise the cost of housing, and consumers end up paying for the tariffs in the form of higher home prices,” the statement said. “... Proposed new tariffs on China, Canada and Mexico are projected to raise the cost of imported construction materials by $3 billion to $4 billion, depending on the specific rates. For some materials, where imports are critical to supply, prices could see dramatic increases, adding layered costs that could substantially impact builders’ ability to deliver new projects.”