"Under the pretense of asking for fair trade, the steel industry is looking for sweeping protection, and that threatens to undermine the global trade rules that have helped keep our country secure and our farmers competitive," said association president Vince Peterson. 

"While we don’t yet know the contents of (the U.S. Commerce Department’s) recommendations to President Trump, if they’re anything like what the steel industry has proposed, we hope the president will do the right thing and reject it."  

The Commerce Department submitted the results of its Section 232 investigation to Trump last week. The investigation was carried out under the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, which allows the president to restrict imports if they threaten national security.  

The department didn’t disclose any of its conclusions, but it is widely believed to argue for some form of new restrictions. Trump has three months to make a decision. 

For the United Steelworkers union, the decision can’t come soon enough.

"We're dismayed that the report took so long to produce and that we still have to wait for a decision. It is obvious that our nation's steel sector has been under attack by unfair foreign trade and that the sector is vital to our national security," said United Steelworkers international president Leo Gerard.

"The president has an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reset the trade agenda and protect and preserve the jobs of hardworking Americans now and for the future. We've got to champion the interests of American workers, and all our citizens, by protecting industries vital to our national security,” he said.