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Steel Makers Succeed in Keeping Tariffs
AP via Yahoo! Finance ^ | October 10, 2007 | Christopher S. Rugaber

Posted on 10/13/2007 12:13:41 PM PDT by 1rudeboy

Government Grants Steel Makers' Request to Extend Tariffs to China, India, Four Other Nations

WASHINGTON (AP) -- 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.

William Gaskin, president of the Precision Metalforming Association, a group of smaller manufacturers, called the decision "a tough blow for American steel consumers."

The ITC "missed the fact that American companies need steel products at globally competitive prices" and that the U.S. steel industry is competitive, profitable and no longer needs government protection from cheap production overseas, he said.

Under World Trade Organization rules, the U.S. must review the tariffs every five years.

Shares of Nucor rose 20 cents to $58.50 in after-hours trading, after falling 47 cents to close at $58.30 in the regular trading session Wednesday.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: automakers; steel; trade; wto
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To: airborne

Funny how those “free traders” have the audacity to spend their own money without your permission.


41 posted on 10/14/2007 5:50:36 AM PDT by 1rudeboy
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To: econjack

Agreed.


42 posted on 10/14/2007 5:59:41 AM PDT by ItisaReligionofPeace
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To: 1rudeboy

Yeah. Funny how you care more about your bank account than anythjing else.

Ha Ha.


43 posted on 10/14/2007 8:05:09 AM PDT by airborne (Proud to be a conservative! Proud to support Duncan Hunter for President!)
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To: airborne

I feel rather attached to my bank account. So keep your fingers off of it.


44 posted on 10/14/2007 8:08:13 AM PDT by 1rudeboy
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To: Soul of the South; econjack
For starters...

I would eliminate all import tariffs. True free trade is unilateral.

I would eliminate all business taxes. Why do we tax the most efficient?

Eliminate the income tax. Apart from being a form of slavery it taxes the very things we should be encouraging.

I would eliminate class action lawsuits. Class action is just a mechanism to circumvent the constitutional requirement for standing.

Every state should have the same rights over their public lands that Texas got when it joined the union. That would effectively neuter the EPA and the Interior Department.

45 posted on 10/14/2007 9:43:33 AM PDT by antinomian (Show me a robber baron and I'll show you a pocket full of senators.)
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To: Soul of the South
I agree with almost all your points. However, I hate property taxes as they do not fit the two theories of taxation (Benefits Received, Ability to Pay) plus they are a real burden on the elderly. I favor a flat tax, but still don’t see any benefit from tariffs. The 19th century playing field, level or otherwise, is just too different now for tariffs to make sense. I’m not sure I buy the strategic arguments either. Back in the 50’s when Ike was President, the oil companies asked—and got—protective tariffs on oil saying that the $.10 in the midEast was unreliable so we should put tariffs and quotas on imported oil for military reasons, even though the domestic price was $.50. If you buy the military argument, we should have capped our wells, sucked theirs dry and saved $.40 in the process. If there was a conflict, our reserves would have been untouched while we drain theirs and saved money in the process. No...tariffs always distort resource allocation and I’m not in favor of it.
46 posted on 10/14/2007 10:46:24 AM PDT by econjack ("You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life.")
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To: antinomian

Not a bad list! I’d make one modification: If you sue in a civil suit and lose, you have to pay the other side’s legal expenses.


47 posted on 10/14/2007 10:48:35 AM PDT by econjack ("You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life.")
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To: lewislynn
Actually:

Union Pacific was entangled in the Crédit Mobilier scandal of 1872. Its early troubles led to bankruptcy during the 1870s, the result of which was reorganization of the Union Pacific Railroad as the Union Pacific Railway on January 24, 1880, with its dominant stockholder being Jay Gould. The new company also declared bankruptcy, in 1893, but emerged on July 1, 1897, reverting to the original name, Union Pacific Railroad.

48 posted on 10/14/2007 10:52:56 AM PDT by DeaconBenjamin
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To: lewislynn
Actually:

Union Pacific was entangled in the Crédit Mobilier scandal of 1872. Its early troubles led to bankruptcy during the 1870s, the result of which was reorganization of the Union Pacific Railroad as the Union Pacific Railway on January 24, 1880, with its dominant stockholder being Jay Gould. The new company also declared bankruptcy, in 1893, but emerged on July 1, 1897, reverting to the original name, Union Pacific Railroad.

49 posted on 10/14/2007 10:53:18 AM PDT by DeaconBenjamin
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To: antinomian

Bump!


50 posted on 10/14/2007 10:54:28 AM PDT by billbears (Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it. --Santayana)
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Comment #51 Removed by Moderator

To: 1rudeboy
I feel rather attached to my bank account. So keep your fingers off of it.

It's not me you need to worry about.

I'm sure Hillary will be happy to continue marching down the road towards the 'North American Union', and then you can convert all of your dollars to 'Americos'. After all, if it's profits you seek, amnesty will provide all the slave labor you need! And Hillary will gaurantee that.

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=15233

I wonder what your precious money will be worth then?

Hey, as long as you're making a profit, who cares about the details.

52 posted on 10/14/2007 12:58:14 PM PDT by airborne (Proud to be a conservative! Proud to support Duncan Hunter for President!)
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To: econjack
I’d make one modification: If you sue in a civil suit and lose, you have to pay the other side’s legal expenses.

Yeah, I believe that was one of the bullets in the Contract with America.

I would rather do that and get rid of class action, but repeal these award caps that have passed in some states. I think the threat of class action discourages legitimate business activities by creating legal uncertainty; but award caps encourage illegitimate behavior by limiting potential liability.

53 posted on 10/14/2007 1:42:57 PM PDT by antinomian (Show me a robber baron and I'll show you a pocket full of senators.)
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To: antinomian

A good list, but first we need term limits to do away with the career politicians that have corrupted the Congress.


54 posted on 10/14/2007 2:13:09 PM PDT by airborne (Proud to be a conservative! Proud to support Duncan Hunter for President!)
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To: airborne
A good list, but first we need term limits to do away with the career politicians that have corrupted the Congress.

I'm not sure that will work. That will probably just insure that all congressmen are inexperienced and incompetent.

I don't think any sort of tampering with the electoral process will do anything positive in the long term. Look at how fast the politicians got around that silly McCain-Feingold act. It was supposed to take the money out of politics but only took control of the money away from the candidates. I don't think there is any substitute from reducing the power of the government.

55 posted on 10/14/2007 2:40:03 PM PDT by antinomian (Show me a robber baron and I'll show you a pocket full of senators.)
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