U.S. Steel Producers Raise Prices After Tariffs Stymie Imports

American steel makers are raising prices, forcing new costs onto domestic manufacturers that make everything from cars to military tanks. The increases come on the back of President Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminum.

Two big American producers, Cleveland-Cliffs and Steel Dynamics, reported on Monday that they had charged more for their products in the second quarter of this year than they did in the first quarter.

About a fifth of the steel sold in the United States is imported. The steel tariffs, which were raised last month to 50 percent from 25 percent, have made imports of the metal much more expensive. And as imports have declined, American producers have more power to opportunistically increase their prices, buyers said.

“You always see that as one of the traps of a tariff,” said John O’Leary, the chief executive of Daimler Truck North America, which buys large amounts of steel to make Freightliner and Western Star trucks and Thomas Built school buses. American steel makers, he said, now have “more headroom to be able to raise the price.”

Daimler Truck has tried to pass on some of the costs of the tariffs on steel and aluminum, the other metal on which the Trump administration has imposed tariffs. When steel and aluminum tariffs were at 25 percent, the company added approximately $3,500 to the price of a Thomas Built school bus, which on average costs around $100,000.

When asked if Daimler would raise prices further now that the tariffs had reached 50 percent, Mr. O’Leary said it was hard to pass on extra costs to customers in the current market.