Trump’s team discussing gradual tariff increases, Bloomberg reports

President-elect Donald Trump’s economic team are studying slowly increasing tariffs month by month in an effort to help avoid a spike in inflation, Bloomberg’s Jenny Leonard and Saleha Mohsin reports. According to people familiar with the matter, one idea involves a schedule of graduated tariffs increasing by about 2% to 5% a month, and would rely on executive authorities under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The proposal is still in the early stages and has not yet been presented to Trump, the people note. The Washington Post previously said preliminary talks on tariffs have focused largely on several key sectors that the Trump team wants to bring back to the U.S., including the defense industrial supply chain through tariffs on steel, iron, aluminum and copper, medical supplies, and energy production, through batteries, rare earth minerals, and solar panels. Publicly traded steel companies include ArcelorMittal (MT), Steel Dynamics (STLD), Nucor (NUE), and U.S. Steel (X), with copper companies including Southern Copper (SCCO) and Freeport McMoRan (FCX), and iron companies including BHP (BHP), Rio Tinto (RIO), Vale (VALE), and Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF). Publicly traded solar companies that may be impacted include Array Technologies (ARRY), Emeren (SOL), FTC Solar (FTCI), First Solar (FSLR), Maxeon Solar (MAXN), Shoals Technologies (SHLS), SolarEdge (SEDG) and SunPower (SPWR). Publicly traded rare earths companies include MP Materials (MP), Energy Fuels (UUU), and NioCorp (NB).