Agriculture Watching Steel-Aluminum Trade Situation

Ag market traders are closely watching whether President Donald Trump and his trade officials this week announce long-awaited trade policy moves against China and others. Bloomberg on Friday published an article, "Trump Favors Commerce's Harshest Steel and Aluminum Tariffs, Sources Say" that noted "Trump has said he wants to slap a global tariff of 24% on steel imports, the most severe of three options presented to him in a report in January.He's also considering as much as a 10% duty on all aluminum entering the U.S., which would be more than 2.5 percentage points higher than the harshest of Commerce's recommendations." Axios reports the Bloomberg account is "accurate, but with one small tweak: Sources [say] the president has told confidants he actually wants a 25% global tariff on steel because it's a round number and sounds better." An investigation into Chinese trade and business practices by U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer could also trigger a reaction from Beijing.