At midnight, tariff exemptions for exported steel and aluminum from Canada, Mexico and the European Union are set to expire. Heritage Foundation trade economist Tori Whiting had the following to say:

“The Trump administration has advanced many sound, sustainable economic policies that have offered the American people opportunities for prosperity and set our economy on the path to robust growth. That is why it is frustrating the administration would impose counterproductive tariffs on some of our nation’s closest allies who supply the competitively priced inputs necessary for American manufacturers to produce finished goods and export them around the world.

“The tariffs on steel and aluminum imports have been presented as a jobs engine for American workers, but history shows that tariffs are in fact big job killers. Last time we imposed tariffs like this, 200,000 American workers lost their jobs. This time will be no different. Recent analysis estimates that five jobs could be lost for every one gained as a result of these tariffs, amounting to as many as 146,000 net jobs lost.

“Rather than promoting self-defeating trade policies, the White House should focus on making tax cuts permanent, cutting wasteful government spending and removing burdensome barriers for businesses imposed by Obamacare and other harmful regulations.”