US tariffs may add 19,000 steel, aluminum jobs: study

Bloomberg

US tariffs on aluminum and steel imports will add thousands of jobs at domestic producers, offsetting labour losses in other industries, while economic growth will slow by a tiny percentage, according to the Coalition for a Prosperous America.
The study is from the nonprofit organisation, which has supported the US administration’s skepticism towards free trade. The group estimates President Donald Trump’s 25 percent tariff on steel imports and 10 percent tariffs on aluminum will add about 19,000 jobs, making job losses downstream and in other parts of the economy negligible. The impact would hit the economy by $1.4 billion, or 8/1000th of 1 percent of US gross domestic product, the organisation said.
“The tiny decline in GDP is a result of these tariffs in the medium term,” Jeff Ferry, research director for the Coalition for a Prosperous America, said in a telephone interview.
“In the longer term, I would anticipate that the effect of tariffs are positive because a longer-run analysis shows what happens to steel and
aluminum industries as a result: additional production, revenue, hiring and investment.”
The study comes as many forecasts say the controversial import tariffs would largely hurt downstream sectors of the economy that use raw steel and aluminum to make consumer products such as automobiles and beverage cans.
Harbor Intelligence said on March 1 that Trump’s aluminum tariffs would boost production jobs by about 1,900, but 23,000 to 90,000 US manufacturing job will be lost.