Posted on 16 Oct 2018
While the upcoming US midterm elections are likely to shake things up in Washington, it’s unlikely the outcome will see the US steel industry lose support among lawmakers, American Iron and Steel Institute CEO Thomas Gibson said Monday.
“Steel has always been a very bipartisan issue,” Gibson told S&P Global Platts on the sidelines of the World Steel Association’s annual meeting in Tokyo.
It is also unlikely that the outcome of the election would lead to the immediate removal of the Section 232 tariffs on steel imports implemented by the Trump administration in March, as it is a presidential action that does not require congressional approval. Under Section 232 of the 1962 Trade Expansion Act, the executive branch has the right to investigate whether imports of a certain good impair national security and grants the president the authority to enact remedies.
Gibson noted that even if the Democrats take control of the House of Representatives, the current prevailing opinion in Washington is that the Republicans will retain control of the Senate, and ultimately, US President Donald Trump will still hold the power to veto any legislation. One area that may change is that a Democrat-controlled House of Representatives could lead to increased oversight on issues like Section 232.
“The House in the control of a different party can conduct oversight, it can have hearings, it can launch investigations, it can be a pretty powerful tool in the hands of the opposing party to dig into presidential policy and presidential decisions so they could have hearings on any executive branch action,” Gibson said.
Kevin Dempsey, senior vice president of public policy for the AISI, noted that the Congressional Steel Caucus has always been a very bipartisan group with balanced representation on both sides of the aisle.
“Traditionally, on steel policy issues, certainly on trade, we’ve had very strong support from Congress so I don’t see it having a significant impact on support for the steel industry,” Dempsey said.
