A week after President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, the only thing clear in Clark County is that costs and uncertainty are rising.
“It’s just a lot of changes,” said Heinz Lange, sales director for the Port of Vancouver USA. “Down the road, with this administration, we know anything can change at any time.”
Trump’s tariffs on metals went into effect on march 23 and don’t hit all countries equally. Imports from Argentina, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, South Korea and several European Union countries have been exempted.
But South Korea, one of the largest suppliers of steel through the Port of Vancouver, was only spared by agreeing to cut its U.S.-bound steel exports by 30 percent.
If South Korean suppliers start sending product elsewhere, the Port of Vancouver will have to make sure it has a variety of sources, said Lange.
But Lange noted that these aren’t problems that keep him up at night. Not unless a country decides to level its own tariffs against grain, the Port of Vancouver’s biggest export.
