(Bloomberg) — Supply Lines is a daily newsletter that tracks global trade. Sign up here.
Most Read from Bloomberg
US President Donald Trump’s tariffs on aluminum and steel are motivated mostly by concerns that China is flooding the global market and harming US manufacturing, said a former trade adviser to the White House.
The president signed an order this month to place 25% levies on all imports of steel and aluminum, regardless of where they come from, casting it as a necessary move to bolster US production and create jobs. That is “a reflection of this worry that what the US has done thus far has not been sufficient to stop overcapacity in these sectors,” Kate Kalutkiewicz, who was senior director for international trade policy at the National Economic Council during Trump’s first term, told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.
“They almost entirely relate to China, and China’s non-market policies and practices which have enabled this global glut,” she added. The metals tariffs are due to take effect on March 12.
The Trump administration has ramped up pressure on Mexico to put its own tariffs on imports from China, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg News. Canada put 25% tariffs on a wide array of Chinese-manufactured steel and aluminum in October, also citing concerns about overcapacity.
Kalutkiewicz, who now leads the trade practice at McLarty Associates, struck a more optimistic tone about the future of the trade alliance between the US, Mexico and Canada, which was renegotiated during the first Trump administration and made law in 2020.
“The North American economic relationship is one of the most, if not the most, important relationships in the world,” she said.
Trump’s goal of imposing “maximum pain” on Canada and Mexico is to ensure that the US gets the best deal, according to Kalutkiewicz. “I think we will have a dynamic discussion about the future of that relationship,” she said. “But I feel quite positive about the longstanding nature.”
Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek
©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
