The Coalition for a Prosperous America assessed the economic impact of the steel tariffs signed into law in March of 2018 by utilizing the REMI PI+ model to produce their own employment forecasts that could be compared against other simulations. Researchers simulated the impact on the price of imported steel was 12.5 percent in 2018 and 25 percent each year after. They found that before the tariffs were imposed, manufacturers were producing at less than full capacity, but with the tariffs in place, domestic producers can now compete with imports as output increases without requiring additional productive capacity. The Coalition’s analysis also evaluated two rebate scenarios for recycling tariff revenue back into the industry, as well as explaining how they adjusted pricing, investment, and employment to more accurately reflect the current state of the U.S. economy.
