NEW YORK, March 27 (Reuters) - Oilfield service

providers will face modest hits to earnings from U.S. President

Donald Trump's decision to impose tariffs on steel imports,

Liberty Energy Chief Executive Ron Gusek said on

Thursday.

Trump imposed 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum on March 12,

and more could be coming April 2. A Dallas Federal Reserve

survey on Wednesday showed executives are concerned that the

levies could drive inflation in the oilfield, and raise drilling

costs.

The tariffs have already pushed suppliers to raise costs on

some components of the fracking process, such as perforating

guns used to create tunnels to pump fluids and crack shale

rocks, said Gusek, who took over the top job at Liberty after

its former CEO Chris Wright was confirmed as U.S. Energy

Secretary in February.

Liberty is passing those costs on to its consumers, Gusek

said on a telephone interview.

"As we get a letter that says that (costs will rise), we

share that letter with our customers and ask them to absorb that

cost," Gusek told Reuters in a phone interview.

That, in turn, could further hit Liberty and other oilfield

service providers' earnings by forcing their oil-producing

customers to slow drilling activity.

Oil producers have already set their budgets for the year,

so they could slow drilling activity to balance their expenses

as costs for items like well casing and tubing climb, Gusek

said.

One executive quoted in the Dallas Fed survey said the Trump

administration's tariffs had raised costs for casing and tubing

by 25% immediately, warning the knock-on effects will force

producers to drop drilling rigs and decrease employment.

Gusek said he does not currently expect a slowdown in

activity, noting that the guidance from Liberty's customers

indicates a 2-3% hike in well completion costs.

Still, industry costs are rising, and Liberty will try to

offset them by targeting more efficiency in its operations, such

as by completing wells faster, Gusek said.

"Hopefully we can offset that, and the end result for our

customers on the E&P side is that we can get somewhere close to

holding well costs flat, even in the face of that bit of

inflation."