I cant imagine this will change much of anything.
First- 80% of the steel used in the USA is made in the USA.
The amount imported from China is around 6%. Until last year or so, it was running at about 2% to 3% of our consumption-
that was because for many years there has been a tariff on Chinese steel- a tariff from the Chinese Government on exports. The Chinese steelmakers had to pay up to 25%, depending on the product, to export. That has changed since early 2008, but I think there are still some export tariffs on some Chinese steel. This is for raw steel, not finished products.
So, historically, we have imported almost no steel from China. And we still import very little. We import about as much from Canada as we do from China, and about half as much from Germany, and from Japan- although, in both those cases, its high priced moldmaking and tool steels.
And we import very cheap stuff, like rebar, from whoever will sell it cheapest- I have seen rebar from India, Indonesia, Korea, Mexico, Brazil, and more.
In terms of raw tonnage, though, our steel imports, at only 20% of our total, is a much better number for US workers than our tube sox import numbers, or our tupperware, or our electronics, or computers, or bicycles, or plastic toys, or a million other consumer goods, where we import more like 80% of our consumption...