AIIS releases report on potential devastating impact of 232 steel tariffs

The American Institute for International Steel (AIIS) has released a report it commissioned from Martin Associates, “The 2016 National Economic Impact of Imported Iron and Steel Products on the U.S. Marine Transportation System and the U.S. Economy,” to illustrate the potential devastating impact of 232 steel tariffs being discussed in Washington, D.C., by the current administration.

The study quantifies the national economic impacts of imported iron and steel products moving through the nation’s seaports and using the country’s highways, rail, and inland waterways to move the products from the seaports and inland waterways ports to the intermediate and final end users. These end users include the nation’s auto and transportation equipment manufacturing industry, steel fabricators, as well as the construction industry.

The report found that steel imports:

• Support 1.3 million jobs (jobs supported by port activities).
• Generate $239.8 billion of total economic activity.
• Results in $62.7 billion total personal income and local consumption.
• Generate $19.4 billion of federal, state, and local taxes.

According to the report, the proposed steel import restrictions threaten:

• 84,000 direct, induced and indirect jobs in the marine transportation system.
• 1.2 million jobs in the steel-using sector.
• 47 million tons of U.S. grain exported via the lower Mississippi River, and more than 10,000 direct, induced, and indirect jobs created by these grain exports in the marine transportation system.
• 39,000 jobs supported in the U.S. agricultural sector.