Want to Get Trump to Start a Trade War? Follow Steel Industry's Lead and Buy Some Ad Time on Fox & Friends

Despite opposition from much of his entire cabinet and warnings that imposing strict tariffs on steel imports would likely harm many American workers while sparking a trade war, President Donald Trump on Thursday decided to go ahead with the punishing import restrictions anyway—just days after the steel industry launched a massive ad blitz aired on TV programs “Trump has been known to watch.”

“Tariffs are economically destructive and regressive. Imposing a 25 percent tariff on steel and a 10 percent tariff on aluminum is bad policy for the vast majority of Americans.”
—Richard Phillips, Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy

“We hope the president will see the ad and approves of the message,” said Scott Paul, president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, which funded the six-figure ad buy that appeared on Fox, CNN, and MSNBC.

Aired for the first time on Tuesday, the ads implored Trump—who reportedly watches four hours of TV per day—to “take action” and declared that “America’s workers are counting on you to protect our jobs and to defend our national security. It’s time to keep the promise and to protect American Steel.”

As the New York Times reported shortly after Trump’s announcement, one of the ads ran during “Fox & Friends,” reportedly the president’s favorite show, before Trump sent this tweet on Thursday:

Trump has long approved of this message trumpeted by the steel industry—making it one of the central planks of his campaign—but hesitated to take action on it as members of his administration argued the move would likely provoke retaliation from other countries, China in particular.

On Thursday, Trump flouted these warnings and announced that he will impose a 25 percent tariff on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminum. While many crucial details of the plan are murky and still being written, Trump is expected to formally sign the trade measures as early as next week.