Steel Tariffs Caused More Harm Than Good (My title)

The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) released a report last week of a study of the effects of the steel tariffs implemented by the Bush Administration in March 2002. The study confirms that steel tariffs have done more harm than good. The Commission reported that in the first year alone, steel tariffs cost the U.S. economy $680 million, with a $190 million price tag in lost profits for steel-using companies. The report also states that 34% of companies surveyed said employment would improve if the tariffs were lifted.

More grist for the anti-protectionism mill. Not long after the tariff was passed, there was an outpouring of companies who produce products made of steel that were getting killed in the marketplace by the cost increases caused by the tariff. The law of unintended consequences in full display.

Please Buchananites, attack the study, not me.

What a uselessly self-serving post. How many people are going to sift through the 283 page report filled with arcane steel industry data to argue with you? Nobody. I read most of the report and it is not at all clear that the self-congratulatory conclusion indicated by your title is fact.

Dateline: Washington D.C.

"Experts Agree 2000 Page Government Report Full of Obscure and Contradictory Data Confirms My Opinion Because I Say It Does"

Please Buchananites, attack the study, not me

Thanks for the heads up on the impact of Dubya's import tax increase. $680,000,000 cranks out to about 10 bucks out of my family's budget. Sure, we'll probably hear about how the poor starving union worker needed my donation, but I'd rather have my 10 bucks back.

OK, so I've coughed up alms to the poor, but you're asking a lot to think that the tax-n-spenders will attack the study and not you-- numbers are not the their forte.

There's the business level where everyone buys at the best price, and the emotional level where people call names. We're dealing with people who use their foreign-made-chip-filled computers to argue that we're the ones who have to change. They can drink foreign grown coffee be we shouldn't.

They couldn't care less about the economic boom and all the jobs created by NAFTA. They call for higher import taxes so as to redistribute our wealth to those who are unwilling to work as hard as we work. And then they claim to be conservatives. They say that American workers like us can't compete in this world, and then claim to be America first.

Also, I wouldn't expect them to thank you for your share of the $680,000,000.

I was employed in the steel using business back when the dumping started becoming serious in the early-1970s'.

A number of overseas steel companies were subsidized by their own government to provide work in that country. Because of the foreign subsidies, they were able to sell steel in the US for less than what US companies could. In fact, in a couple of instances I was involved in, the foreign steel was sold for less than the raw material cost to make it. Consequently, virtually all basic steel producers in the US went bankrupt. The only steel companies I am aware of right now are actually steel-recycling companies. Exactly how does this make the US stronger and better?

More Details: Back in the early to mid 1970's, China started selling Grade 8 fasteners in the US for less than the raw material cost here. These are VERY strong and VERY expensive fasteners. They got in the business by BUYING Grade 8 fasteners from US fastener manufacturing companies and selling them back to US fastener users for less than the raw material costs. The US companies ran all kinds of test on the fasteners and found the were just as good as the ones they bought for more money from US companies (which is not supprising, since they were actually made by US companies). After the China company was added to the approved vendor list, China started shipping their own Grade 3 or Grade 5 fasteners in place of the more expensive Grade 8 ordered. They also supplied Mill Certs that said they were Grade 8 -- completely false. After a few years, when fasteners started breaking right and left, it was realized that the US companies were duped and all this information was uncovered. Naturally, the China importer went out of business so NO costs could be recovered. A DIFFERENT China company opened up in the SAME building immediately afterward, but since there was no legal connection, they were not responsible. The new company sold OTHER steel products.

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