malamute wrote: >If I could go on record with my position on the steel industry it would be >this: I want steel as close, clean (environmentally), consistent, and as >cheap as possible. I believe this works for every country that uses steel. > Not really - different countries export different types of steel, and shouldn't fall to the lowest common denominator. Australia's steel, for example is particularly corrosion-resistant compared to most. 40% of our steel exports to the US are as slab steel whereas some countries only export CRS to the US. The other thing (and you mentioned close), is that west coast steel consumers can buy Pacific Rim (Australia, Korea, China, Japan) steel cheaper than US East Coast steel, but East Coast factories wouldn't consider Pacific Rim steel. Perhaps infrastructure is as much an issue as mill efficiency?
>I don't like tariffs. I do however understand the reasoning behind this >decision. It is temporary, and everybody will get over it. The tariffs >will bump up the price of a refrigerator about 3 to 5 bucks. Whoo-whee. >It will raise my material costs .02 to .03 cents per piece. Again >whoo-whee. > But shipbuilders, auto-makers, roofing suppliers etc will all pass on their costs to the consumer, and they won't be as trivial. I think the problem will be in the precedent: a. US Mills again delay the massive pain the steel industry has gone through in other countries (there are lots of rust belts around the globe) b. These things have a habit of being renewed at expiry (remember the recent discussion on farm subsidies which were implemented to alleviate the dust bowl crisis in the 1920s, and which have just been renewed for a further 3 years) c. If the steel industry gets this treatment, other industries can ramp up their protection lobbying significantly, and probably succeed-plenty of industries as just as important to the USA d. It puts the US in a weak position when pushing for free trade from other countries, or indeed any negotiations with other countries None of these are about the steel industry, they are about applying any new protections. Cheers Russell C.
