The loss of Staff Secretary Rob Porter, who quit his White House gig after DailyMail.com made spousal abuse claims public, led to some of the disarray surrounding President Trump’s tariff announcement on Thursday.
Axios reported that it was Porter who controlled the paper flow and oversaw the White House’s weekly trade meetings in the Roosevelt Room.
Trump’s shock announcement Thursday to industry leaders that he was imposing a 25 per cent steel tariff and a 10 per cent aluminum tariff was a ‘complete breakdown in the White House process,’ the publication wrote.
President Trump’s surprise tariff announcement was partially caused by Staff Secretary Rob Porter leaving, as Porter had controlled the paper flow and oversaw the White House’s weekly trade meetings in the Roosevelt Room
Rob Porter (right), photographed alongside White House Chief of Staff John Kelly (left), departed the White House after his two ex-wives claimed spousal abuse to DailyMail.com
Trump’s move sent the market into a tailspin amid fears it could prompt a trade war.
It also nudged his top economic adviser, Gary Cohn, closer to the door, at a moment when the last thing the president needs is another big-name departure.
The move sent the market into a tailspin amid fears it could prompt a trade war.
There had long been a split among top White House staffers – the free traders versus the protectionists – on what to do about trade.
Cohn, Defense Secretary James Mattis, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had all argued against tariffs.
Wilbur Ross and Peter Navarro were the only top official who disagreed.
NEXT TO GO? President Trump’s tariff decision may prompt his top economic adviser Gary Cohn to go. For months Cohn and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin used the rising stock market to keep Trump from making rash decisions on trade
According to Axios, Cohn and Mnuchin had been using Trump’s love for ‘yuge’ stock market gains as a way to persuade him against taking drastic actions about trade.
But today, Trump spoke off the cuff about the move, which is designed to target cheap foreign imports at an Oval Office event that the White House invited reporters to observe at the last minute.
‘It’ll be for a long period of time,’ Trump said of the move, as the TV cameras rolled.
The president said the decision would restore jobs and even restore an industry that has been in decline for decades – although his comments precipitated a steep drop in stocks.
‘We’re bringing it all back,’ Trump claimed, referring to the nation’s shrinking steel industry. He said the formal action would come next week – in comments that followed back and forth over whether the meeting would even occur.
‘They won’t be dumping on our country. What they do is they dump massive amounts of product in our country and it just kills, it destroys our companies and our jobs,’ Trump said Thursday.
‘We’re going to be instituting tariffs next week,’ Trump said.
By the time White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders briefed reporters, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had suffered a 500 point drop.
‘This is something that the president has been talking about for a long time,’ Sanders said when pressed about it.
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange at the Opening Bell in New York, New York, USA, on 01 March 2018
By the close of trading, the Dow finally dropped 420 points, or nearly 2 per cent.
She said Trump had made his ‘intentions very clear to his team at the White House.’
‘I don’t think it came as a surprise to anybody here,’ she added, saying Trump has been talking about it ‘for decades.’
She wouldn’t provide any additional details about the plan, including whether it would apply across-the-board or whether the president would carve out certain countries or otherwise try to mitigate the effects on U.S. industries that rely on the raw materials.
‘I don’t think it came as a surprise to anybody here,’ said White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders
Asked about a statement from Republican Sen. Ben Sasse blasting the clumsy rollout, she fired back: ‘I don’t know that the president will or should ever apologize for protecting American workers. And certainly not to Senator Sasse,’ she said.
‘Aluminum has been decimated in the country,’ he complained.
Dave Burrit, the CEO of U.S. steel compared trans-shipping to ‘whack-a-mole,’ where third countries ship steel from third countries that originated in China
‘We’ll be signing it next week. And you’ll have protection for a long time in a while. You’ll have to regrow your industries, that’s all I’m asking,’ Trump said.
Burritt continued: ‘We are not protectionists we want a level playing field.”
“It destroys our companies and our jobs,” Trump followed up.
President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with steel and aluminum executives in the Cabinet Room of the White House, Thursday, March 1, 2018, in Washington. From left, Roger Newport of AK Steel, John Ferriola of Nucor, Trump, Dave Burritt of U.S. Steel Corporation, and Tim Timkin of Timken Steel
‘People have no idea how badly our country has been mistreated. … We’re bringing it all back,’ the president added.
Move follows Commerce Department Section 232 investigation review. The agency this month recommended a 24 per cent tariff for steel and a 7 per cent tariff on aluminum earlier this month.
‘We need it for defense,’ Trump said, justifying the move, which he said would lead to industry growth.
Talk about the new tariffs had already prompted warnings of a possible trade war, as China and other nations decide how to respond.
Other administration moves have already put tariffs on washing machine and solar panel imports.
Trump talked about washing machine tariffs and solar panels tariffs and asserts companies are opening closed plants in United States. He reiterated he doesn’t blame other countries if other US leaders agreed to bad deals. “Those people should be ashamed of themselves.”
‘Pretty much all of you will be immediately expanding if we give you that level playing field. What’s been allowed to go on for decades is disgraceful,’ Trump said.
President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with steel and aluminum executives in the Cabinet Room of the White House, Thursday, March 1, 2018, in Washington
Trump lashed out Thursday at ‘unfair trade’ as he weighs whether to impose tariffs or quotas on cheap steel and aluminum imports that he said are decimating US producers.
Trump did not single out any country in a tweet but his words came with the White House poised to announce whether it will adopt sanctions against China, Russia and other countries to combat a worldwide glut of the metals.
U.S. steel and aluminum executives have been summoned on short notice to meet with Trump, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The president tweeted that Americans ‘must not let our country, companies and workers be taken advantage of any longer’
Foreign steel shipments like this one could soon be subject to tariffs when they reach the U.S., especially from China and Russia
‘Our Steel and Aluminum industries (and many others) have been decimated by decades of unfair trade and bad policy with countries from around the world,’ Trump tweeted early Thursday.
‘We must not let our country, companies and workers be taken advantage of any longer. We want free, fair and SMART TRADE!’
And while Trump did not mention China in this latest tweet, it comes on a day one of his top economic advisers, Cohn, is due to meet with Chinese economic adviser Liu He at the White House.
The Commerce Department, in its investigations into the national security risks of the global oversupply of steel and aluminum, laid out an array of possible options, including a tariff of at least 24 percent on all steel imports worldwide, and a similar tariff on aluminum imports from China, Russia and three other countries.
Other options would impose either high tariffs or quotas on steel and aluminum imports.
A worker grinds the edges of a bundle of finished steel rods in Russia at a factory that outputs 1.8 million tons per year
Aluminum ingots await forklifts at a factory whose products are destined for the United States
Commerce Secretary Ross found that cheap imports impaired U.S. national security by making domestic production unviable.
Trump has until mid-April to decide what remedies to impose, if any, but any U.S. action is likely to be challenged by exporting nations in the World Trade Organization.
U.S. industries have urged the administration to exercise care since high import tariffs would raise the cost of supplies. But Commerce said the goal of the measures was to boost domestic aluminum and steel production.
The administration of former President Barack Obama also sought to tackle long-standing concerns about Chinese overproduction, but emphasized talks with Beijing rather than punitive measures.
The proposed sanctions could hurt other countries more than China, which is the world’s largest steel producer but accounts for less than one percent of U.S. imports and sells only 10 percent of its wrought aluminum abroad.