U.S. Commerce Department submits report to Trump on probe of imported steel

“Steel protectionism would harm the domestic economy, jeopardize the rules-based trading system and needlessly provoke allies,” Clark Packard, trade policy counsel at the Washington-based think tank R Street Institute, wrote in an analytical essay published on Wednesday.

“While the administration may be able to bolster a small slice of the domestic steel industry by imposing such restrictions, any benefits would be greatly outweighed by the damage done,” he said, calling on the Trump administration to reject the imposition of import restrictions on steel.