The White House Ballroom's Imported Steel Shows How Tariffs Encourage Cronyism |
Crony Capitalism
The White House Ballroom's Imported Steel Shows How Tariffs Encourage Cronyism
Any time government has greater control over commerce, there is an increased incentive to buy off officials or lobby for special treatment.Â
Eric Boehm | 4.10.2026 2:55 PM
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(Illustration: The National Capital Planning Commission/Shalom Baranes Associates, Architects/Zahid267/Dreamstime)
It might be the perfect parable to summarize the Trump administration's trade policies: The new ballroom under construction at the White House will be built with imported steel.
"ArcelorMittal, a Luxembourg-based firm that is the world's second-largest steel maker, is providing steel for the structure of the ballroom project," The New York Times reported this week. The steel has been "donated" to the project, and the exact value of that contribution remains uncertain—but Trump boasted last year about having secured a $37 million donation of steel for the project.
Yes, it is obviously hilarious that an administration fixated on promoting American manufacturing and committed to raising barriers to imports is going to use foreign steel for the........