TAMPA, Fla. — Tampa Steel and Supply has been serving customers for decades.
“About 3,500 customers buy from us annually,” said Troy Underwood, the CEO and Owner.
With recently announced tariffs on steel and aluminum, Underwood shared how that could impact his business, saying they've already seen pricing go up from their suppliers.
"The domestic mills have announced price increases,” said Underwood. “All had price increases in the last week, and then recently, the importers have increased their replacement costs, so coils that we're buying are now costing more than we paid last week."
"It's not Canada who’s going to be paying 25 percent. It's not China that's going to be paying 25 percent more for that steel. It's Americans,” said Michael Snipes, a USF Associate Professor of Instruction of Economics.
The White House said the President is taking action to protect the country's steel and aluminum industries, which it said have been harmed by unfair trade practices and global excess capacity.
Snipes explained the reason we trade with other countries is because it's cheaper to buy there.
"It's either going to be because importers are going to see increases in their cost because of the tariff or if we do start producing these things here in the United States, they're going to be produced by companies that are already higher-cost producers,” said Snipes. “Either way, prices are going to go up."
The aluminum and steel industries are far-reaching, from cars to construction.
The ripple effect for Underwood? As new product comes in, they have to increase their selling cost.
"If they come in today and we have the inventory that's from a couple weeks ago, they're paying the same price they paid last week, but a couple weeks from now, it's probably going to be a little bit more,” said Underwood.
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