Safeguard Tariffs on Imported Steel and Aluminum make all the sense in the world says Big Al
CPA Praises President Trump for Announcing Crucial Safeguard Tariffs on Imported Steel and Aluminum
Washington. The Coalition for a Prosperous American (CPA) strongly applauds President Trump’s announcement of Section 232 safeguard tariffs on an unprecedented surge of steel and aluminum imports. The US Commerce Department recently reported that a wave of heavily subsidized steel and aluminum from China and 11 other countries “threaten to impair the national security” of the United States. In response, President Trump said today that he will impose 25 percent tariffs on steel imports from all countries, with no exceptions. He has also announced 10 percent tariffs on all aluminum imports, with no exceptions.
“President Trump has sent a clear message that China and other nations will be held accountable for flagrantly violating the rules of world trade,” said Dan DiMicco, Chairman of CPA. “China has brazenly flouted the rules of global trade for years. Such cheating should not be tolerated, particularly when our steel and aluminum producers continue to play by the rules of international trade.”
In the last nine years, China has increased its steel production 65 percent and now accounts for 50 percent of world production and 23 percent of world steel exports. China is now the world’s largest steel producer, thanks to massive subsidies, state mandates, and an undervalued currency that artificially lowers the cost of exports. Similarly, South Korea and other countries have already been found to subsidize their steel industries, with the Department of Commerce previously levying an astonishing 169 tariff orders on steel due to foreign subsidies and dumping of product at below the cost of production in the US market.
“For years, China has simply overproduced millions of tons of steel, and happily dumped it in the United States,” said Michael Stumo, CEO of CPA. “The US has remained completely open and vulnerable to such oversupply, and the result has been lost jobs and real damage to our domestic steelmaking capacity. It is important that the tariffs be long term so investors are confident in increasing US plant capacity.”
Research by CPA has found that China’s 2016 steel production of 808 million tons is up 65 percent from 2007 levels. Despite global calls for China to reduce steel supply, production has continued to rise. Today, China produces more steel than the next nine steel-producing nations combined. In response to this glut of steel, America’s steel industry has cut production by 20 percent over the past decade, and US steel employment has fallen by roughly 50,000 jobs since 2000. Key steelmaking plants have closed, and for certain types of steel (such as those used in electrical transformers), only one US producer remains.
“As the Commerce Department has already noted, these emergency tariffs will help to ensure the long-term viability of our nation’s steel industry,” said DiMicco. “It’s critical that the United States maintains a vibrant steel industry to confront changing economic and national security concerns around the world.”
Stumo adds that the downstream effects of tariffs must also be addressed. “US companies that buy steel to make lawn mowers, hand tools, and other products should be protected as well. Their competitors will continue buying artificially cheap foreign steel to manufacture and export to America, undercutting the prices of American-made products. The administration needs to focus on protecting the entire supply chain through trade enforcement and addressing our overvalued dollar.”
Click here to read more about global overproduction of steel.
I find it interesting that this article and the link to the CPA website is all China, China, China. However, China doesn’t import a whole lot of steel to the US. In fact, its us evil Canadians who are the apparently the biggest culprit. America apparently imports steel from some 100 odd countries. Now I’m pretty sure that the majority of those countries aren’t subsidizing their steel industries with the intent of dumping it all over the US.
I think anti dumping rules are a good idea, however when the president and his CPA are using a certain country as a scapegoat to justify import tariffs to help an industry that has been lagging in America for 30 odd years, maybe they should just cut the BS and concentrate on helping the American steel industry grow directly.
Gold Appeal is Growing as Trade and Currency Wars Materialize
March 01, 2018 By John Kicklighter, DailyFX
Trump’s plan to slap tariffs on steel imports carries big economic and political risks
By Don Lee – Jun 28, 2017
“Trump has promised to crack down on unfair foreign traders and restore the fortunes of American manufacturing. Few industries are as important as steelmaking, and Trump sees steel as an emblem of industrial power as well as being vital to the country’s national security.”
“But the president faces a conundrum: Making good on his Cincinnati pledge earlier this month may help domestic mills by restricting foreign steel and boosting U.S. steel prices. But that same action almost certainly will mean higher costs for American makers of cars, appliances, machinery and construction materials, and for many other manufacturers that cut, bend and otherwise fabricate steel. That could lead to higher prices for consumers and job losses.”
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-steel-tariffs-20170628-story.html
Of course, Hypocrite Donald used foreign steel to build his hotels.
https://aflcio.org/2016/10/12/six-facts-donald-trumps-use-chinese-steel
Is my understanding of ecomics completely wrong?
Is not a tariff or import duty not simply a tax on the American people; definitely NOT actually a tax on foreign people?
Was not the great depression of the late 1920s and most of the 1930s exacerbated by protectionist trade wars?
Is history about to repeat? Or is Trump just using a different ploy with regards to NAFTA renegotiations? I wonder why he threatened the tariffs, rather than waiting for an exact formulation. Was it thought through or a remark to get union votes without fully thinking.
BEIJING (AP) — After threatening to retaliate if President Donald Trump raised trade barriers, Chinese leaders need to decide whether his hikes in steel and aluminum tariffs justify starting a fight that might disrupt access to one of China’s biggest markets.
Beijing had no immediate reaction Friday to Trump’s plan for tariffs of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum. Asian stock markets fell amid talk of a “trade war.”.
Chinese leaders need to weigh the need to back up threats with action against the risk of disrupting U.S. market access for smartphones and other exports that matter more to the economy than metals.
“China will definitely respond. It doesn’t want to be seen as weak. But it will be relatively restrained,” said economist Louis Kuijs of Oxford Economics. “They don’t want to be seen as a party that is wrecking the international trading system.”
Beijing has accused Trump of undermining global trade regulation by taking action over steel, technology policy and other disputes under U.S. law instead of through the World Trade Organization.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkOoDmQ_41w
Greg Hunter
Palisadr radio
Free trade…I understand the traditional argument for comparative advantage, and how that increases prosperity in general. But in a world where productive capital moves freely and people don’t, I don’t see how it works.
Why should a modern industrial country allow it’s corporate owners to close their factories and send them to countries with the cheapest labor and laxest environmental regulations, only to send the products back to the country with all the closed factories? Sounds like a race to the bottom, to me.
It’s complicated, I suppose. If the US didn’t have the power of near infinite credit, it would have lost the power to import limitlessly and destroy its own manufacturing base a long time ago. As it is, it just looks to me like Free Trade plays right into the hands of the globalist class who want a one world government with them in charge.
“But in a world where productive capital moves freely and people don’t, “……….good point IMO…..
More on the recent wave of Youtube/Google censorship of independent media voices, from the SGT Report (I’m surprised SGT hasn’t been taken down yet).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IW0ZvvkPZ7Y
Who owns Youtube/Google?
Who runs the entire Fake News industry? Who runs the sewage lagoon called Hollywood? How about the racist music industry that inundates black youth with gangsta and ho culture?
Time for BDS — long past time
Corporate campaign donations = free speech? Great idea!!
But don’t think actual humans’ right to free speech is protected by the 1st amendment when it comes to promoting a boycott of apartheid Israel.
http://mondoweiss.net/2017/07/shockwaves-progressive-community/
“YouTube’s New Moderators Mistakenly Pull Right-Wing Channels”
By Mark Bergen
Lying shysters.
It should be Israel-Gate, not Russia-Gate, as it is clear which country truly has inappropriate influence over US politics.
AMEN
A new lesson on why it’s important to vet sources more carefully and understand how to separate fact from mercantilist propaganda — . The U.S. gets a WHOPPING THREE PER CENT of its total steel imports from China.
I think it is a problem of Trump opening his mouth before engaging his brain.
These US Import tariffs hit Canada, Brazil most. Supposedly friendly towards the US!
Does not make sense to me……simply invites retaliation from countries looking for an excuse to justify anti-US actions.
U.S. imports about 30% of its steel.
(from Canada, Bazil, South Korea…)
BERLIN (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump is risking an economically damaging trade war with his closest allies if he goes ahead with plans to impose steep tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, European officials warned Friday.
Trump, who has long-railed against what he deems unfair trade practices by China and others, said Thursday he planned to levy penalties of 25 percent on imported steel and 10 percent on aluminum imports from next week.
“We are not going to sit on our hands while our industry is at risk of being hit with unfair measures,” said European Commission spokesman Alexander Winterstein.
“We are going to respond swiftly, firmly and in a proportionate way.”
French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire echoed the stance of the Commission, which coordinates and supervises EU trade policy.
“The United States must know that if these unilateral decisions were to be maintained and confirmed, they would lead to a strong, coordinated and united answer from the European Union,” Le Maire said, adding that he planned calls with his German and British counterparts later in the day.
Rightly or wrongly, the EU, a major importer of US agriculture products, intensely dislikes US use of Genetically Modified products. I suspect there will be a major effort to abolish EU imports of US Ag products in retaliation for steel tariffs.
Geez, that could mean buying from Russia as they dont like gmo either.
Too bad we not doing business with them.
This crap thats happening in the U.S. has to be intentional.
That would be a great day for europe if they did not have to eat poison food from the u.s. Abolish away!!!
US mint gold eagle sales down over 90% from Jan.
silver eagles down over 70%
b…..Maybe thats because people are runing out of spare cash.
Or maybe because people have given up on gold and have joined the herd in the stock market. Looking at the risk/reward profile for each market, this makes perfect sense (lol) and would be very good for the gold space from a contrarian perspective (and very bad for stocks – who’s left to buy and push them higher?).
Well, the deals are in what people dont want.
That’s right.
Kuntzler has an interesting view: http://kunstler.com/clusterfuck-nation/end-times-od-corral/
Trump’s ‘Smart’ Tariffs Don’t Make Economic Sense
https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2018/03/trump-steel-aluminum-tariffs/554660/
Congress raises tariffs, as all good Republican Congresses should. Any agreement for the funding of American war debt is always made in Washington as long as it is accompanied by the lowering of high surtaxes upon large incomes. Wall street is on board but is the administration’s heart in the right place for the working class. I think we could see that this is being done under the guise of an arms race. Who wants to be in the supremacy?