US steel prices climbed to the highest in more than four years as President Donald Trump’s tariffs restrict foreign supplies, boosting domestic producers while raising costs for American manufacturers.

Pricing for hot-rolled coil, a widely used form of steel that serves as a US benchmark, has been on a steady upward trajectory for the past year, rising 52% to $1,255 per short ton, according to Fasmarkets. The last time prices touched that level was May 2022.

Inflation poses a major challenge for Trump’s Republican Party heading into the midterm elections, and the steel rally underscores the impact of tariffs and his push to revive American steelmaking. What’s proven to be a boon for domestic mills and steelworkers has been a burden for manufacturers, builders and data-center developers.

Restrictions on steel imports and “a constantly evolving trade policy with key partners such as Canada and Mexico has led buyers to limit import orders, creating a supply shortage,” said Josh Spoores, steel research principal at CRU Group, a data and analysis company.

The US is a net importer of steel but deliveries of overseas supplies have declined sharply this year. Imports of finished steel tumbled 14% to around 13 million tons during the first nine months of 2026, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute. As a result, imports’ share of the domestic market slipped to 16% from 19% for the same period last year.

Domestic supplies are expected to tighten heading into the end of the year as mills curb activity to perform routine maintenance. More than 1 million tons of production is forecast to be affected in the September-December period, according to Fastmarkets.

Steel buyers should expect prices to continue ticking higher, according to Richard Bourke, a senior analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. Ferrous scrap costs, a key steel input, already are climbing, which is earlier than usual heading into the final months of the year, he added.

Contract negotiations between producers and customers for 2027 “so far are favoring mills, and are likely to be at lower discounts than recent years,” Bourke said.

American steelmakers including Nucor Corp., Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. and Steel Dynamics Inc. have benefited from stronger domestic pricing and reduced foreign competition. Nucor, the top producer of the industrial metal, has seen its shares climb more than 50% this year.

The sector is set to report third-quarter earnings in coming days and weeks that analysts expect will show higher sales and profits.

Steel stocks briefly dropped last month after Trump announced plans for a $15 billion Mesabi Metallics plant in Iowa that will produce 10 million tons of steel a year beginning around the end of the decade.

American hot-rolled coil is typically the most expensive globally and the premium relative to international markets is widening. Prices are now about two-thirds higher than in Europe and nearly three times those in China, which continues to export near-record quantities of steel despite pushback from trading partners.

Trump’s 50% tariffs on imported steel have disrupted trade with Canadian producers. Cleveland-Cliffs, one of the largest US steelmakers, said last month it would indefinitely idle some operations at its Canadian subsidiary Stelco, potentially affecting as many as 500 workers.

The move has sparked a confrontation with the Canadian government, which has threatened legal action against Cleveland-Cliffs over employment commitments made when it acquired Stelco for C$3.4 billion ($2.4 billion) in 2024.