US Steel (NYSE:X) Needs More Than Trump Tariffs to End 2019 in the Green

• US Steel reported its first quarterly net loss in two years in late October.
• President Donald Trump’s directive will only provide temporary relief.
• The steelmaker has laid off hundreds of workers since August.

US Steel (NYSE: X) emerged as one of the stock market’s biggest gainers Monday after President Donald Trump restored tariffs on Brazilian and Argentinian steel and aluminum.

US Steel stock rallies on Trump tariffs

In an early-morning tweet, Trump blamed the decision on the two South American countries engaging in the “massive devaluation of their currencies.”

Immediately after Trump tweet, the stock rose by nearly three percent in pre-market trading. By Monday’s close, shares of X had climbed 4.15% to $13.66.

Year-to-date, US Steel is down about 25%. | Source: Yahoo Finance

Thanksgiving nightmare not erased

That’s a significant bounce, but US Steel has only partially recovered from last week’s losses. After a flooding incident at its Indiana Gary Works plant forced a blast furnace shutdown, the stock fell nearly 10% during the Thanksgiving week.

Despite the tariffs announced by President Trump on Brazilian and Argentinian steel, the stock of one of the largest steelmakers in the US will require more than protective measures to avoid ending the year in the red. The stock has plunged around 25% year-to-date.

The steelmaker’s most recent quarterly results showed that the company is worse off than at the beginning of the US-China trade war. During the quarter that ended in September, the firm reported its first net loss in two years.

Only jobs being created at US Steel are restructuring expert positions

And while President Donald Trump had promised to revive the steel industry in the US with the view of creating jobs, the opposite seems to have happened at the giant steel maker.

In late August, US Steel announced that it would be laying off about 200 workers at a Michigan plant. At the time, the company argued that it had to idle two blast furnaces due to lower steel prices and softening demand.

Since the first quarterly loss reported in late October, the US Steel job losses have snowballed. Less than two weeks ago, the firm announced it would be laying off 150 workers at an Illinois plant. Additionally, various managerial and professional positions were cut at a plant in Indiana.