Swamp Notes: Trump’s big play to save steel production
FT News Briefing
Forhecz Topher
4.4 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 7 June 2025
⏱️ 20 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
US President Donald Trump doubled tariffs on steel to 50 per cent this week. He’s also allowing Japan’s Nippon to buy the US Steel Corporation. The moves are meant to bring back manufacturing to America’s steel industry. But will they? FT senior trade writer Alan Beattie and Zehra Munir, the FT’s industrial reporter, discuss whether Trump can make good on a popular promise.
Mentioned in this podcast:
It’s always steel — tariffs provide Trump with a familiar trade weapon
Donald Trump’s US Steel gamble: Pennsylvania workers warm to Nippon tie-up
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Swamp Notes is produced by Katya Kumkova, Henry Larson and Lauren Fedor. The FT’s acting co head of audio is Topher Forhecz. Special thanks to Pierre Nicholson.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | We're Equinor, an energy company searching for better. Currently, we supply 27% of the UK's gas, |
| 0:07.0 | 15% of its oil, and we're playing our part in the UK's energy transition. In 2023, we invested |
| 0:14.1 | 20% of our global gross spend in renewables and lower carbon solutions. Today, our wind farms power |
| 0:20.0 | 750,000 homes, and we expect this to grow to |
| 0:23.3 | over 7 million UK households. We're an energy company searching for better. Equinor.com. |
| 0:30.3 | Hey, Swampnoters, it's Mark Filipino here to tell you something very important before this episode starts. |
| 0:36.0 | This is the last week Swamp Notes will be on the |
| 0:38.6 | FT News Briefing feed. That's right. After today, this show is going to its forever home. |
| 0:43.5 | So right now, open your podcast app. Search for the new Swamp Notes feed and hit subscribe. |
| 0:49.2 | I'll see you there. |
| 0:52.2 | Every week, it seems like there's new tariff news. |
| 0:55.5 | U.S. President Donald Trump is either hiking or dropping levees on China, making deals with |
| 1:00.5 | automakers or negotiating with the EU. |
| 1:03.3 | And now, well, now he's focusing on steel. |
| 1:05.9 | We're going to bring it from 25% to 50% the tariffs on steel into the United States of America, |
| 1:13.7 | which will even further secure the steel industry in the United States. |
| 1:21.9 | These new tariffs, the steel ones, they're a little different from the others, |
| 1:26.3 | because these tariffs go to the heart of something |
| 1:28.8 | both Democrats and Republicans have been attempting for more than 40 years, save what's |
| 1:34.2 | left of U.S. steel manufacturing. |
| 1:40.0 | This is Swamp Notes, the weekly podcast from The Financial Times, where we talk about all the things happening in U.S. politics. I'm Mark Filipino, and this week we're asking, could Trump's tariffs save American steel? Here with me to discuss is Alan Bedey. He's the F.T. Senior Trade Writer. He writes the Trade Secrets newsletter. Hey, Alan. Hey, hey, I think. Doing well. |
| 2:02.5 | We've also got Zara Munir. She covers industrials and breaking news for the FT. Hey, Zara. |
... |
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