The politics-driven news website Politico.com has an article today about the Biden administration’s policy on steel tariffs. Since taking office, President Joe Biden hasn’t reversed the steel tariffs put in place by his predecessor President Donald Trump. But that could change and the article shares how the steelworkers and its powerful union feel about that possibility.

But years of tepid demand for American-made steel have diminished the mill, which is most known for producing high-strength steel the military needs in wartime. Kameen Thompson, the president of the local United Steelworkers union, says the plant is now hiring workers and anticipating fresh investment largely due to a pivotal policy: former President Donald Trump’s tariffs on foreign-made steel and aluminum.

Those controversial duties are still in effect and creating a political quagmire for President Joe Biden. Most business groups detest them as an unnecessary financial burden as they grapple with supply-chain shortages and rising inflation.

The European Union wants the tariffs gone, too, and is ramping up pressure on Biden to lift them. But scrapping the tariffs entirely, even for Europe, without installing alternative protections for U.S. steel producers risks angering union voters like Thompson ahead of the 2022 elections.

“I’m pretty sure that our union leadership is telling him the right thing to do is to make our industry stronger and better,” Thompson said in an interview. “If he goes against that, then it has to be a very good reason why.”

You can read the full article here.