President Trump occasionally announces all kinds of proposals, some of the them most of us consider good, some are questionable. However, as President we assume rightly or wrongly he has very good reasons to announce his ideas. One of the ideas was to impost tariffs of steel and aluminum. Naturally, the announcement made the front pages of the world press but inside an average US company actually using steel and aluminum there is different story. The story is rising costs, delayed shipments, and a baffling bureaucracy.

In a story by Paul Wiseman and Christopher Rugaber of the Associated Press, a new organization has been founded – the Coalition of American Metal Manufacturers and Users who are small and medium sized businesses which are trying to have the Commerce Department exempt them from the tariff. The reason the companies can appeal for exemptions is they can not obtain the metals from US producers. It is one thing to announce tariffs, it is another thing to have the steel and aluminum producers provide the kind of steel and aluminum desired. There is a reason why they went outside the US.

The Commerce department has 90 days to review and make a decision, unfortunately there was little resources put in the area and time has come and gone. The Commerce department traditionally reviews each potential exemption individually and does not wish to do across the board reviews.

Companies are finding while their customers are satisfied with their past work, they still need to be in business and they can access the materials from alternative sources.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, the headlines in the newspaper generally makes poor financial results. Companies tend to like relative stability not the headlines attention. What may be good for politicians, seemingly to do things disrupts supply chains which have existed for a number of years. It is the reason why all companies need to have backup plans and deal with a number of suppliers. It is the reason why companies deal with more than one bank. Having choices or alternatives is a good thing.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.