Bush may lift steel tariffs

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Monday, Dec. 1, 2003 | 9:27 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- President Bush is expected to announce this week that he will immediately lift most of the tariffs he placed on foreign steel in an effort to protect American industry, bowing to a ruling by the World Trade Organization that his administration had violated global trading rules, industry officials who have been in negotiations with the White House said on Sunday.

The announcement could come as soon as Monday, the officials said, when Bush is in Michigan to attend an economic event and raise money for the 2004 campaign. But he may wait until after a Tuesday trip to Pittsburgh, where the decision to accede to the trade organization ruling, even if accompanied by a threat by Bush to reimpose tariffs if there is a surge of low-cost foreign steel, will be deeply unpopular among U.S. steel manufacturers.