The United Steelworkers Union President David McCall says the country’s trade system needs to be revamped after a U.S. Supreme Court decision last week that negated most of President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
“For too long, American workers have borne the brunt of bad trade policies that did nothing to stem the tide of global overcapacity, illegal dumping and other unfair trade practices that eroded good jobs and undermined our communities,” McCall said in a statement.
On Feb. 20, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against President Donald Trump’s global tariffs in a 6-3 decision. The ruling found that the tariffs imposed under emergency power law were unconstitutional, including the sweeping “reciprocal” tariffs levied “on nearly every other country,” according to the Associated Press.
The court found that it’s unconstitutional for the president to unilaterally set and change tariffs because taxation power belongs to Congress, according to the Associated Press.
Following the decision, Trump said he was “absolutely ashamed” of the justices who ruled against him, and he pledged to impose a new global 10% tariff under a law that’s restricted to 150 days and has not been used to apply tariffs before, the Associated Press reported.
“Their decision is incorrect,” Trump said. “But it doesn’t matter because we have very powerful alternatives.”
McCall, in his statement, said Congress needs to better support American workers. Congress let the Trade Adjustment Assistance program lapse, McCall said, and the U.S. Department of Labor cannot issue more certificates through the program, which terminated on July 1, 2022.
The Trade Adjustment Assistance program helped workers who became unemployed due to the impact of foreign trade, according to the Indiana Department of Workforce Development website. The program would provide U.S. workers with opportunities to obtain skills, resources and support to become reemployed.
McCall also claimed that Congress has failed to advance “meaningful legislation that would institute broader reforms to our broken trade system.”
“It’s an excess of short-term thinking and free trade ideology that got us into this mess. Now, we need sustainable solutions,” McCall said in his statement. “We call on policymakers to prioritize revamping our trade system. This includes using tariffs and other trade remedies strategically, not to punish trusted allies like our Canadian partners, but to ensure American workers are able to compete on a level playing field now and for generations to come.”
A representative for U.S. Steel was unable to immediately respond to a request for comment on how the Supreme Court decision might impact the steel industry.
Micah Pollak, associate professor of economics at Indiana University Northwest, previously told the Post-Tribune that he believes Trump’s tariffs wouldn’t decrease the demand for steel but would instead increase the need for domestic, American-made steel.
“(The tariffs are) probably going to be beneficial, and maybe that’s part of the reason that Nippon (Steel) wants to have a presence here,” Pollak said in June. “Tariffs will likely only help the steel industry, specifically. Although we’ll raise the cost of construction nationally, from the perspective of the steel industry, demand will likely go up for American-made steel.”
In August 2024, Nippon Steel first announced that it would invest about $300 million in the Gary Works facility, updating the blast furnace and extending its life by about 20 years, according to Post-Tribune archives. Nippon Steel Vice Chairman Takahiro Mori later said the company planned to invest $1 billion into Gary Works and nearly $3 billion into union-represented facilities.
In December 2023, Nippon first announced that it planned to buy the American company for $14.9 billion in cash and debt, and committed to keep the U.S. Steel name and Pittsburgh headquarters, according to Post-Tribune archives.
Before he left office, Biden blocked the acquisition after a review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States cited national security concerns. In February 2025, Trump said Nippon would drop its acquisition to make an “investment, rather than a purchase.”
U.S. Steel has announced a timeline to reline its blast furnace, starting in May and ending in August. The relining for blast furnace #14 will cost $250 million, and the company plans to supply customers with no interruptions during construction.
mwilkins@chicagotribune.com
