, Columnists
These Companies Are America’s Biggest Losers in a Trade War
Trump may love Boeing and Caterpillar, but they and other U.S. corporations will be hurt by tariffs on steel and aluminum.
Inside a Boeing factory in North Charleston, S.C.
Photographer: AlamyThis article is for subscribers only.
Donald Trump’s proposed steel and aluminum tariffs have made American corporate executives jittery. That’s because they can easily imagine other countriesresponding by trying to tax U.S. whiskey, Caterpillar Inc. excavators, and Boeing Co. jets.
“God bless Boeing,” Trump said last February, right around the time he exclaimed, “I love Caterpillar.” A lot of good those warm feelings will do Boeing and Caterpillar: Both are big metal users and face competitive pressures from abroad that a trade war will only intensify.