https://www.cato.org/blog/tariff-inclusion-process-comes-high-costs-absurd-outcomes-extra-cronyism
The Trump administration quietly announced that imports of more than 400 additional products—valued at almost $210 billion in 2024—would be subject to “national security” tariffs on steel and aluminum. The action is disturbing for many reasons.
For starters, many of the listed items can’t plausibly be considered “steel products,” or “aluminum products,” or otherwise related to actual national security. As bad if not worse, the administration gave US importers of these goods less than 24 business hours’ notice before their products’ steel and aluminum content would be taxed at a 50 percent rate, with no leeway for products already en route to the United States or for US companies that don’t have said content (and why would they?). And the administration used a “tariff inclusion” process it instituted last February to invite any US company to request import protection under the guise of “national security,” thus encouraging a flood of such requests (and a lobbying bonanza) in response.
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Bad policy enacted in the dumbest possible way, while inviting a flood of lobbyists. Drain the swamp, they said.
Rest easy everyone, whipped cream, deodorant, and baby strollers are among those categories protected based on national security.
