Thanks to you and your protectionist measures you have ensured that anything made of steel produced in this country will more than likely increase in price. So much for your wanting to get this country into recovery. How many manufacturing jobs will be lost because of your actions? Hope your steel union pals are happy, you traitor. Now lets sit back and watch the rest of the world retaliate by cutting imports of our products or raising tariffs on our products, and watch even more US jobs disappear and industries go belly up.
This thread’s going to be moved to the Pit, I think. But I’d like to add that the hypocrisy of imposing import tariffs on steel while urging the rest of the world to break down protectionist barriers is quite staggering.
Yep, this one really irks my drawers. Had a debate going on the other board about it. To paraphrase Collounsbury, you would have expected a republican president to be fiscally prudent and pro-trade.
I think this was simply a horrible decision. But what I think is scarier is what the reasoning behind the decision reveals. Bush did this for purely political reasons and many Democrats are disappointed because the tariff takes a platform plank off the table. In other words, many Democrats were supporting the tariff. So we have both major parties that are openly willing to do catastrophically stupid things to get a few votes. This isn’t anything new, of course, but it is a frightening example of how both parties are willing to do the economically indefensible.
I’m not a big fan of Bush, but in the interests of fairness, it should be noted that the waving story appears to be incorrect.
Uh, an estimate I heard from an NPR commentator opposed to the tariffs was that it would increase the cost for steel in a car by $200. Considering what a new car costs these days, that ain’t dick. There’s better ways of stopping the loss of American jobs, but its not like this was the absolute worst solution Bush could have done.
Yea, that would be odd. I always thought Republicans disliked unions, but then again Bush IS a moderate in his party.
I think the tarrifs have to do with the fact that Europe and Russia make more than they can consume and so it’s easy for them to sell steel cheap. It’s not so easy for the US to do the same since they produce less.
Ideally, the tarrif is supposed to get the US to have higher steel sales and thus “bring industry back to the US.”
As much as I’d like to think that would happen, somehow I can’t help but wonder…
“But I’d like to add that the hypocrisy of imposing import tariffs on steel while urging the rest of the world to break down protectionist barriers is quite staggering.”
Well, that too…eheh.
I haven’t paid too terribly much attention to this, but personally I was convinced by the argument that a lack of tariffs would cause more damage to the US steel industry than the tariffs will cause to everyone else.
Someone educate me: are we not being dumped upon by government-subsidized Russian and Japanese steel? Isn’t our steel industry in continued jeopardy because of this?
IIRC - and Australia is one of the nations from which the US buys steel - Bush has now agreed to drop the tariff on 85% of the steel we supply to you. I’ll see if I can find the news story - I heard it yesterday.
Things might not be quite so bad as they first seemed.
And actually, IIRC, he can drop even more than that. The whole thing is pretty sieve like, really. The goal is to stop the dirt cheap steel coming from places like China and a few other countries that so heavily subsidize their steel, that the US feels it can’t compete. Even then, they can get around the tariffs fairly easily. All they have to do is import it to Canada, and then ship it into the US.
Sorry about where this was posted–I thought the BBQ Pit was for complaints about the SDMB only(when I saw the swearing I thought it better to avoid it, even though I was just ranting).
I have yet to read anything positive about Bush’s decision, and I believe this was done just to try to help republicans hold on to Congress.
I think Bush’s middle of the road stand is leading to socialist measures. Steel in this country has been a protected industry for hundreds of years, but this isn’t the time to start a trade war.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Bush is an idiot who is leading the world to hell in a handbasket. I’m digging a hole in my basement to hide in. :eek:
Uh, what makes you think that a country like China subsidizes steel production? Most of the big producers like Baoshan Steel, Ma’anshan Steel and Anshan Steel are companies listed on the stock market. Do you think that these companies are selling steel for less than it costs them to make? If they are, then that amounts to these companies subsidizing US industry. Now the US is effectively subsidizing a few thousand workers and a couple of big companies, which will result in increased inflation and plenty of other US workers losing their jobs.
The US steel industry benefited from protectionist measures under Reagan and IIRC Bush Sr. They failed to get competitive. Protectionist bailout is pretty unlikely to make them competitive this time around.
Funny how steel mini-mills in the US are efficient by global yardsticks, but the big makers keep whining about how they need protection.
