U.S. Investigating Possible ‘Profiteering’ on Tariffs, Ross Says
- Accuses intermediaries of withholding product to inflate price
- Price increases are ‘clearly a result of antisocial behavior’
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The U.S. is looking into whether people “illegitimately are profiteering” on aluminum and steel import tariffs after recent outsized gains in prices of the metals, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said.
“There has been a lot of speculative activity, storing inventory, withholding product from the market, by various intermediary parties so the price of steel and for a while the price of aluminum went up far more than is justified by the tariffs,” Ross said in a Senate Finance Committee hearing Wednesday. Price increases are “clearly a result of antisocial behavior by participants in the industry,” he said.