BENGALURU, India — Rows of small factories line the streets of a dusty suburb in Bengaluru, where workers weld and cast Indian-made steel into everything from car parts to kitchen sinks. Here, U.S. President Trump’s announcement to impose high trade tariffs on steel imports has some unexpected supporters.
Many industry workers and experts expect that the result of tariffs will be that cheap steel gets dumped in places like India. That’s because the announced 25% tariff will make it too expensive for many companies in countries like China and South Korea to keep exporting to the U.S.
For B. Praveen of Sun Techpro Engineering, which makes products from steel metal sheets, it means his “wafer-thin” profit margins will probably grow as the steel he buys gets cheaper.
“For thousands of companies like mine, this can be a good thing,” he said. Businesses such as Praveen’s employ over 200 million Indians and are key drivers of India’s economy.
But cheaper steel in India isn’t good for everyone. In February Naveen Jindal, the president of the Indian Steel Association, which represents all India’s steelmakers, said that he was “deeply concerned,” especially since “India is one of the few major markets without any trade restrictions,” making it a target for potential steel dumping. And the increased competition could impact efforts by India to produce its own steel more cleanly. The current production of most Indian steel releases high levels of greenhouse gas emissions, which cause climate change. Reduction efforts could be cut in the interest of keeping profits up.
India is the world’s most populous nation and one of the fastest-growing major economies. Steel demand is rising rapidly due to fast-paced urbanization, infrastructure, and industrial growth, and the government expects steel production to increase from 120 million tons to 300 million tons in the next five years.
Currently, up to 12% of India’s gr
