Trump says steel imports are a threat to national security. The defense industry disagrees.

“This is going to impact companies big and small in the aerospace and defense world [and] more importantly we’re worried about retaliation,” said Eric Fanning, chief executive of the Aerospace Industries Association, which represents more than 300 aerospace and defense manufacturers and suppliers…

Advertisement

“Economic security is an important part of national security,” Fanning said. “We can see how the markets are reacting, we can see how our allies are reacting, so I’m concerned about some negative impacts that this might have on national security.”

The National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA), another trade group, said Monday that the tariffs will harm the military industrial base as well as U.S. service members if they are applied too broadly. Defense firms can seek “waivers” from domestic sourcing requirements such as the Buy American Act and the Berry Amendment, Depression-era laws that forbid foreign purchases on certain military supplies, but the White House has offered little clarity on whether similar exceptions would be built into the new tariffs.

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Trending on HotAir Videos

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement