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OPINION:
As President Trump declared in recent days, tariffs are crucial for national security, including U.S. economic health. While Canada runs an advertisement attacking the tariffs, our commander in chief is working overtime to strengthen domestic supply chains for critical metals such as steel and aluminum while creating millions of American manufacturing jobs.
While I was serving my country for more than 33 years in uniform and during my tenure as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, it became clear to me that we must strengthen supply chains for the critical minerals and metals used by the U.S. military. American-made aluminum is a critical input for our military’s fighter jets, tanks and body armor.
Depending on imported steel and aluminum to produce our tanks and planes makes America less safe. In an emergency, our inability to ramp up domestic production represents a clear and present danger to U.S. national security. Mr. Trump recognizes that allowing unfairly traded imports to hollow out our manufacturing supply chains will make America vulnerable.
The simple reality is that we must be able to assemble tanks, fighter jets, planes, ships and even cars in the U.S. using American-made steel and aluminum. A strong and secure manufacturing supply chain, even down to the semi-finished parts suppliers, is critical to American greatness. In a global conflict with a foreign adversary, we cannot rely on globalist organizations and foreign suppliers, a lesson we learned during the pandemic emergency.
While communist Zohran Mamdani and globalist special interest groups such as the Aluminum Association attack Mr. Trump’s national security tariffs, our president of peace is seeking to reconstitute the entire supply chain. During his first term, the president imposed tariffs on imports of foreign aluminum and steel.
Upon his historic reelection, Mr. Trump strengthened the Section 232 national security tariffs on all foreign aluminum and steel imports, raising the rates to 50% to stop unfairly subsidized aluminum and steel flooding into the U.S. These had been watered down during Joseph R. Biden’s autopen presidency.
After Mr. Biden granted Canada an aluminum tariff exemption, Canadian aluminum imports into the U.S. surged, and domestic aluminum production fell more than 30%. Three major American aluminum smelters were forced to shut down across the country under Mr. Biden’s negligent trade policies, costing more than 1,700 hardworking American manufacturing workers their jobs in Missouri, Kentucky and Washington state.
In 2000, there were 23 smelters in the U.S. and 10 in Canada. In 2025, the U.S. is down to four smelters. Canada, on the other hand, has maintained 10. What explains this development? An Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development report shows that Canada’s aluminum industry has been propped up by nearly $1 billion worth of subsidies. Meanwhile, U.S. producers abide by “America First” free market principles.
As a direct result of the president’s aluminum tariff, there have been plans announced to build two aluminum smelters. Century Aluminum is investing $50 million in an existing aluminum plant and is building a brand-new multibillion-dollar smelter in America’s heartland. In Alabama, Novelis is in the process of building a multibillion-dollar aluminum recycling and rolling plant. In recent days, Alcoa announced that the Section 232 aluminum tariff had benefited the company, noting that U.S.-related revenue “more than offset the net unfavorable tariff impacts on imports of aluminum to the U.S.”
Today, the tremendous progress made by Mr. Trump’s aluminum and steel tariffs is under attack. Canada is ramping up its efforts to receive another exemption in an attempt to shift billions of dollars of profits from the U.S. industry to Canadian aluminum producers. If we allow thousands of U.S. manufacturing jobs to be wiped out while redirecting profits to a socialist country, the forgotten men and women of America who stood strong with Mr. Trump in the last election will be forced to pay the price.
When it comes to protecting U.S. economic and national security, the simple reality is that the U.S. must become self-sufficient as a nation and cannot rely on foreign countries for critical metals. As Mr. Trump said, “We really don’t want Canadian steel and we don’t want Canadian aluminum because we want to be able to do it ourselves.”
The patriotic men and women who defend our nation and promote freedom around the globe wear the American flag on their military uniforms. The tools these patriots use to defend the homeland must be American as well. Now is the time to stand strong and support Mr. Trump’s national security tariffs as we launch a new Golden Age of manufacturing for our great country.
• Michael Flynn is a retired three-star U.S. Army general who served as the 18th director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. He was appointed by President Trump to serve as his first national security adviser, and he is the author of “Pardon of Innocence: An Inspiring Story of Faith and Freedom.”
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