Ex-Trump adviser dumps $31m. in stock before steel tariff news hits
Carl Icahn sells 1 million shares in company devalued by surprise decision to impose costly taxes on international metal imports
Billionaire investor Carl Icahn sold nearly 1 million shares of stock in a company tied to the steel industry leading up to President Donald Trump’s decision to impose costly tariffs on steel and aluminum imported into the US.
Icahn also has ties to Trump; he was an unpaid adviser to the president before resigning last August.
A recent regulatory filing disclosed Icahn sold $31.3 million worth of stock in crane manufacturer Manitowoc Co. last month. Manitowoc could be hurt by Trump’s tariffs, a threat that caused the company’s shares to drop by 9 percent to $26.93 since the president’s announcement.
Icahn sold his Manitowoc stock at prices ranging from $32.47 to $34.31 from Feb. 12 to Feb. 22.
Icahn’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Saturday.
Trump triggered a furor on Thursday by announcing he would set tariffs of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum to protect US producers.
The US president doubled down amid the firestorm on Friday, tweeting that “trade wars are good, and easy to win” and proposing “reciprocal taxes” on all goods from exporting countries which place duties on imports of US products.
The steel and aluminum announcement caught many in the administration and on Capitol Hill flat-footed. White House officials had not even completed a legal review of the proposed policies, sources told AFP.
Amid a global stocks selloff and irate reactions from trading partners and US industry groups, administration officials have moved to defend the policy, arguing that the tariffs would result in negligible price increases for durable goods and consumer items.
