Wouldn’t happen. There is a world full of steel producers.
The point is that those other producers are not US. National security demands that we maintain our OWN ability to produce steel. If we end up in a war with China, we obviously cannot expect them to sell us steel to build our weapons with.
The steel industries in England, France, and Germany are also dwindling. If we all take your suggestion and let the steel industries fail in all those countries, they cannot be restarted on short notice. What then happens to our auto industries, appliance industries, etc. if China decides to embargo us over some dispute like territory in the South China Sea or Taiwan or Sea of Japan ? They can reduce their production to just their own needs while all our steel dependent industries fail. That would give them far too much clout politically.
A better solution would be for us to buy the cheap steel and stockpile it and not let it on the market where it can put our producers out of business. Do that at the same time as we expand and modernize our own steel industry so we won’t need imports in the future. Then WE can dump it on the market if China tries to jack up prices later. Allowing the Chinese government (communist country remember) to systematically destroy our industrial base is a bad idea.
Industries that have already been destroyed I think should be restarted by banning imports. Not tariffs, which just drive up prices, but actual bans. TVs and other electronics, toys, textiles, rubber, etc. are all industries we used to dominate yet barely exist anymore. For American companies that are producing overseas, ramp things up so that in the 1st year they need to produce 10% or the products in America, 2nd year 25%, 3rd year 50%, and 4th year 85%.
Competition is great, but if you don’t produce products you CAN’T compete. Letting entire industries die leaves you at the mercy of foreign producers.
Once US industries are back to full market capacity, foreign company imports can resume but be limited to 15% by volume of US consumption. Or maybe disallow imports by percentages that exceed our own exports of that same product. Limiting the availability of imported goods will drive prices up via Demand, but unlike tariffs where the additional cost disappears into the government black hole, price increases based on demand will land in American retailers’ pockets.
Only One-World-Government types believe it is a good idea to be entirely dependent on other nations for your goods.
Hey if we get into a war with China will they still sell us steel to make ships and stuff?
Under what circumstance would the world remain full of steel producers if one major competitor continues to dump steel on the market at a price no one can match?
For national security reasons we need to own manufacturing, commodities, energy and technology sufficient to produce as much war material as possible.
And, we need an economy healthy enough to afford it.