Friday, January 10, 2025
Trump tariffs: Negotiating tactic or fair warning?
www.thefabricator.com: The end of 2024 wrapped up with crazy news cycles, each sounding more like they were ripped from the headlines of another century: wars, tariffs, and assassinations.
Despite all of that, flat-rolled steel prices were mostly ho-hum. In fact, it became almost a trend in the closing months of 2024. Earth-shaking headlines only led to incremental moves in steel prices.
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Trump is tariff-crazy, to say the least. The argument for whether or not he’s bluffing is a heated one. More reliable and ‘in the know’ sources seem to lean that Trump is genuinely headed towards such stark tariffs, and given his hot-headed nature in the past, I would certainly not be surprised. This is, after all, what his followers wanted. From what I’ve seen, his supporters seem to believe that this would take a harder hit on China, Mexico, BRICS countries, etc, than on American consumers. There are upcoming data releases that are likely to indicate the continued slowing of inflation and steady growth that’s been present (relatively speaking) since mid-2020. That does not mean we’re in a spot to say ‘good enough’ and to turn focus on hostility toward foreign markets. The article continues with other trade restrictions that Trump wants to enact soon, which ends with how American lead times and prices will increase.
Material Prices can ruin a design and put the production folks in a really difficult position. I recall during the Pandemic the price of steel shooting up practically overnight. The result of it was that the budget I had agreed to was no longer tangible. After digesting this article if Box Tube goes up from its already ranging from $30.00 to $50.00 per 20ft section. Add $100.00 to that due to tariffs the shows that we budgeted for may hit some red moments unless we purchase the materials now. It just causes questions for me as a student studying technical direction. Because we want to use 100% of the budget no more no less but with transitions from one government official to the other, and the big questions surrounding what exactly Trump's plans are going to do to prices. How do we ensure we are able to produce the shows we agreed to? We will see how it plays out over the course of the next 4 years, but we may be in for a ride.
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