Look at the amount of steel America makes. That is the amount of steel America needs. China can over produce lots of products. And they have. But that does not make them strong. It makes them dangerous. China over produces poorly made products all over the place. From Apartments to electric cars. China has no idea how much of anything should be made. And there seems to be no penalty for producing bad products. So China, the worlds trash heap, will implode. And their dysfunction will screw up many other economies along the way. Hopefully they will right size their production before they start a war. Which is the way that poorly planned economies usually end up trying to find some usefulness of their over production.
“Look at the amount of steel America makes. That is the amount of steel America needs. “
Actually it’s not. The USA imports 30 percent of the steel it consumes.
The Russia sanctions starting in 2022 created shortages in products like rebar which has only eased as the economy went down.
In the event of war, for the USA, 30 % of steel supply disappears when imports cease.
Half of current USA steel production is mini-mill scrap recycling. Which is fine in peacetime, but when you go to total war, and domestic production ends, people don’t scrap ANYTHING because they can’t buy a replacement.
So in that case, the USA is down to a small fraction of the current steel supply. Which was minimal to begin with because USA industrial production has declined so much.
But this is what happens when you outsource everything and become an industrial joke.