Is this another side of the same coin?
http://freerepublic.com/focus/news/3636914/posts?page=13#13
So if the price of the steel in a car went up the whole 25%, which it won’t, and the price of aluminum went up the entire 10%, the cost would go up by about $240, or less than five tenths of a percent. The cost of a truck would go up around $340. According to Edmunds, the average car loan today is six and a half years. or 78 months, so the average payment would be up around $3 per month.
Well the traiff policy can be explained and minimized in the way you point out but the reasoning for increased steel and aluminum tariffs is not supported by facts.
China is at 11th position for imports of steel into the USA. US steel producers already control 70% of the US market.
So this is about politics, its not about economy. But where are the politics going? No one seems to know at this point.
Maybe its about putting pressure on China to participate more fully in the upcoming likely blockade of North Korea?