US Steel Makers Keep Tariffs

The steel makers were successful in persuading the International Trade Commission to keep steel tariffs:

In a victory for U.S. steel makers, the federal government agreed Wednesday to continue tariffs on imports of certain steel products from China, India and four other nations.

General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. Chrysler and other steel consumers had opposed the tariff extension. But ending the tariffs would have increased steel imports, harming U.S. steel makers, said Alan Price, a lawyer for Charlotte, N.C.-based Nucor Corp.

“China has a staggering amount of excess (steel production) capacity,” he said.

The U.S. International Trade Commission extended the tariffs on so-called hot-rolled steel from Indonesia, Taiwan, Thailand and Ukraine, in addition to China and India but eliminated them for Argentina, Kazakhstan, Romania and South Africa.

About 60 million tons of hot-rolled steel, used to make autos, household appliances and many other goods, is consumed annually in the U.S., Price said.

Tariffs were first imposed in 2001 and vary depending on the country, but are as high as 90 percent for China. The duties were imposed to counteract what the U.S. and other nations call unfair trade practices, such as dumping or selling a product below production costs.

This is controversial for many reasons:

1) Competition from overseas gives American steelmakers an incentive to modernize and come into the 21st century. The tariffs give the steel makers fewer incentives to modernize and upgrade their mills. Furthermore, most steel fabricators near me take pride in their innovative fabrication techniques, and therefore it would be a shame to see progress stall as a result of these decisions. However, it would be interesting to see what impact this trend would have on steel manufacturing as a whole.

Put simply, modernization of the steel production industry is very important because failure to do so could mean that if a US manufacturer needed a stainless steel strip or coil instead of going to their local stainless steel strip supplier they would have to search farther afield meaning more cost to them and in turn their customers, not to mention the loss of jobs for those working in the steel industry.

2) The price of manufactured goods will continue to remain high, therefore continuing the exodus of manufacturing and the jobs that come with it from the United States. This has a knock on effect for other businesses too. For example, investing in industrial computer equipment may seem to be obsolete but it can contribute to a more efficient and successful business.

3) This will harm relations with allies and potential allies like India, Indonesia, Taiwan, Thailand, and the Ukraine.

Only free trade will save the steel making and manufacturing sectors of the American economy.

I’m one of the original co-founders of The Liberty Papers all the way back in 2005. Since then, I wound up doing this blogging thing professionally. Now I’m running the site now. You can find my other work at The Hayride.com and Rare. You can also find me over at the R Street Institute.