Tariffs on Turkey now 50%--is it wise to use tariffs willy nilly in diplomacy?

This increase has nothing to do with the any protectionism claims.

Trump simply announced this morning that he is raising them because the Turks have this US preacher in jail. The tariff is on Turkish steel is now at 50%.

Is it about the preacher or is it is about a bunch of business the Turks have already sold in USA that Ross's friends want??

Will he raise the cost of your stuff tomorrow out of the blue?

LINK

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Kinder Morgan also wants a tariff waiver for its $1.75-billion Gulf Coast Express pipeline, which would deliver about 2 Bcf/d of natural gas out of the Permian Basin to the Texas coast. The project will use about $500 million in Turkish steel, according to the company.

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Surely even if you love the tariffs you hate what Ross is doing for US Steel and Nucor by denying any exemption their competitors ask for. It is corrupt as hell.

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The Commerce Department has reportedly consulted with the two steelmakers, who have “successfully objected to hundreds of requests by American companies that buy foreign steel to exempt themselves from President Trump’s stiff metal tariffs.” The number of objections from the two firms reportedly numbers about 1,600.

According to Times reporter Jim Tankersley, “To date, their efforts have never failed, resulting in denials for companies that are based in the United States but rely on imported pipes, screws, wire and other foreign steel products for their supply chains.”

U.S. Steel and Nucor contend that such imported products are available from American steel producers.

The article says both steelmaking firms have a business relationship with members of the White House staff, with Nucor reportedly having helped finance a documentary film called “Death by China” made in 2013 by White House trade advisor Peter Navarro.

U.S. Steel “has previously employed several top administration officials,” according to the Times, which mentions trade negotiators Robert Lighthizer and Jeffrey Gerrish as examples. On July 26, President Trump made a personal appearance at the U.S. Steel mill complex in Granite City, Illinois.

The article quotes a U.S.-based employee of a Turkish steelmaking firm as objecting to the process, as it does Richard Chriss, the president of the Virginia-based American Institute for International Steel (AIIS). Chriss says the exemption “was not designed to be successfully navigated” by steel-consuming manufacturers who request exclusions. The AIIS has sued to block the tariffs on constitutional grounds.

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LINK