President Donald Trump signaled Thursday that he will roll the dice with his single strongest asset: the growing U.S. economy.
After hours of chaos at the White House, Trump told industry executives he will impose tariffs of 25 percent on imported steel and 10 percent on imported aluminum.
The market decline that quickly followed that announcement demonstrated the new uncertainty that the president injected into the outlook of an economic recovery boosted by the new tax cuts.
Import tariffs could boost employment and wages for the roughly 140,000 Americans who work in steel and aluminum production. They include heavy concentrations in the industrial states that tipped the 2016 election to Trump, including Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan. The beneficiaries include significant chunks of Trump's blue-collar voter base as he struggles with weak approval ratings and daunting mid-term election forecasts.
But the tariffs risk creating fallout among a Republican-friendly business community and the more affluent, college-educated voters in suburban areas who are likely to decide who controls Congress next year.
Reference: CNBC
Thai
Eng