ST. MARTIN PARISH — It's been two months since a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum imports went into effect, creating impacts for local metal suppliers in St. Martin Parish. Now, with President Trump's recent announcement of a proposed 10% tariff on all countries, could costs rise even higher?
Ian Bertrand, co-owner of St. Martin Metal, shared insights into the changes the company has experienced over the past few months. "It's actually been really good; we just had a great month in March," Bertrand said. "Interestingly enough, the pressure of the tariffs pushed a lot of people into wanting to buy before the prices increased."
However, Bertrand also acknowledged that the full impact of the tariffs on pricing remains uncertain. "The increases have been slight and incremental," he said. "We're still kind of early as far as where that number is going to end up, you know, if it grows more as the months roll away from these tariffs."
Despite these uncertainties, St. Martin Metal has had to adjust prices. According to Bertrand, the company has raised prices by about 6% in the last month due to the 25% tariff on steel and aluminum imports. The price increase, however, has varied depending on the type of material. "In terms of prices and tariffs, the raw material has come up a little bit, but because we make that stuff here, we've been able to soften that a little bit," he explained, pointing to various materials in the facility. "Now, some of this other stuff here, you're going to see our galvanized secondary structural components, this is what's most subject to tariffs."
St. Martin Metal sources raw steel from a Texas supplier, which in turn obtains some materials from manufacturers located in Canada and Mexico. According to the White House, steel and aluminum articles will not be subject to reciprocal tariffs; however, they will remain subject to the original 10% tariff baseline.
Looking ahead, Bertrand believes that the impact of the new 10% tariffs could push prices higher. "It looks like it's gonna be a little more significant than the first increase," he said. As a result, St. Martin Metal has shifted its focus toward domestic steel mills, keeping a close watch on any price hikes.
"We want to see if the domestic mills are going to try to raise prices as a result of the tariffs," Bertrand said. He also raised concerns about the potential unintended consequences of the tariffs. "The tariffs were imposed to bolster U.S. production, but if the U.S. mills are just going to increase the price to stay above the foreign steel, then you really haven't leveled the playing field."
Although the 10% tariff has only been in place for a few days, Bertrand says he's optimistic that business will remain stable and he plans to closely monitor the impact on pricing.
