In the wake of President Donald Trump’s plans to slap stiff tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, U.S. steel supplier Zekelman Industries has vowed to grant an annual bonus to every employee.
“Our hope would be that the tariffs remain in effect for an extensive period in order to facilitate and encourage investment in the domestic steel industry,” CEO Barry Zekelman said in an email to Automotive News. “The tariffs will also make it more difficult, though not impossible, for foreign steel to be sold at prices that are below our costs.”
As soon as the tariffs are implemented, each employee will receive a $1,000 bonus each year, provided that the new policies remain intact, the company said in a statement.
Zekelman’s email said a “small percentage” of the supplier’s product sales are driven by the auto industry. The supplier, headquartered in Chicago, hails itself as the largest independent steel pipe and tube maker in North America.
“The Section 232 investigation confirmed what we have known for decades: that the domestic steel industry has been victimized by unfairly traded and dumped foreign products and the resulting damage has been both massive and a threat to impair national security,” the CEO wrote in a letter addressed to 2,300 employees, which was included in the statement.
During a meeting with steel industry executives last week, Trump voiced his plans to place tariffs of 25 percent on imported steel and 10 percent on imported aluminum.
“President Trump is taking steps to even the playing field so that domestic producers can compete in a market that includes massive amounts of over-capacity, much of which is subsidized and sold without regard to profit,” the email said. “This market reality has forced steel prices to be artificially low for decades. Many domestic firms have gone out of business as a result and thousands of high paying jobs have disappeared from the domestic labor market.”
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