By David Lawder
WASHINGTON, Feb 13 (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Friday that any decision to narrow the scope of U.S. metals tariffs would be made by President Donald Trump, but added that there could be some modifications to the duties.
Bessent, asked on CNBC about a Financial Times report that Trump is planning to roll back some of his 50% tariffs on steel and aluminum products, said he spoke to U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer about the matter and added: “We’ll see if there is a narrowing.”
“If anything is done, I think it would be some sort of clarification on some incidental objects, but again, that’s going to be the president’s decision,” Bessent said.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Commerce Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the FT report, which cited unnamed sources as saying that the Trump administration was reviewing the tariffs and would exempt some items. The U.S. Trade Representative’s office also did not immediately respond.
The Commerce Department oversees the Section 232 national security tariffs that Trump doubled last year on steel and aluminum, adding thousands of derivative products made from the metals, including many imported auto and machinery parts and appliances.
Consideration of changes to the tariffs comes as Trump pivots to address the rising cost of living for Americans during a mid-term congressional election year.
The Congressional Budget Office on Wednesday said in its annual fiscal forecast that U.S. consumers are bearing about 95% of the costs of Trump’s tariffs either through higher prices on imported goods or higher prices charged on domestic manufactured goods.
The American Iron and Steel Institute on Friday urged the Trump administration to maintain the steel and aluminum tariffs, arguing that government-subsidized excess steel capacity in China and elsewhere was a threat to U.S. national security.
“The Section 232 steel tariffs imposed by President Trump are essential to prevent this overcapacity from fueling new surges of harmful imports into the U.S. market, which would cause a profound threat to American national security and undermine the health of the American steel industry,” AISI President Kevin Dempsey said in a statement.
(Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Philippa Fletcher and Andrea Ricci )
