Steel and aluminum tariffs announced

[civvver]

My god trump's lost it. As if the solar tariffs weren't bad enough.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...ings-you-need-to-know/?utm_term=.33ca0d6efff0

https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/01/politics/steel-aluminum-trade-trump-chaos/index.html

Although according to this Canada is our top importer.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/t...e-hardest-china-is-not-one-of-them-2018-03-01



Which is kinda weird. This wouldn't trump nafta would it? (no pun intended). Cus Canada and mexico should be exempt from tariffs by nafta. This also seems to do very little to china, other than anger them, since we don't import much from them.

I just don't understand any of this tariff stuff. It hurts consumers in the long run and doesn't bring back jobs already lost. I think all it really does is boost profits via rising prices for existing companies. I mean is anyone really going to make a new steel producing company and hire a bunch of people just cus steel is cheaper from the US now?

 

[GoodSarmatian]

It's Aluminium, you barbarian !

 

[Colon]

The only thing I like about these tariffs is that it hurts Boeing, since they benefited from a protectionist measure by the administration themselves. Just curious if Trump is going now to angle for tariffs against Airbus. You know, to neutralize the competitive disadvantage to Boeing from the steel tariff.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

I heard about this in the morning too. What is the alleged reasoning for this tariff? This seemed pretty out of left field.

 

[FriendlyFire]

Trump is making US Steel Great again
(or a giant tax on the consumer for steel)

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Trump is making US Steel Great again
(or a giant tax on the consumer for steel)

Yes but there must be a rationale. The line is that this is for "national security". Precisely what causal chain was provided that allows a conclusion that the policy meaningfully contributes to national security? I'm interested in an unsarcastic response, I'm legit curious if this reasoning was provided/if there is a clip of it out there.

 

[innonimatu]

Which is kinda weird. This wouldn't trump nafta would it? (no pun intended). Cus Canada and mexico should be exempt from tariffs by nafta. This also seems to do very little to china, other than anger them, since we don't import much from them.

I guess they would just have to revise NAFTA, wouldn't they?

I just don't understand any of this tariff stuff. It hurts consumers in the long run and doesn't bring back jobs already lost. I think all it really does is boost profits via rising prices for existing companies. I mean is anyone really going to make a new steel producing company and hire a bunch of people just cus steel is cheaper from the US now?

Seems strategic to me. In the long run a country that claims superpower status but cannot produce even a fraction of its own steel and aluminum is finished. Not that I would be crying to see the US finish itself, but China doesn't inspire much confidence as a successor imperial power either.

 

[Zkribbler]

I heard about this in the morning too. What is the alleged reasoning for this tariff? This seemed pretty out of left field.

Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump
Our Steel and Aluminum industries (and many others) have been decimated by decades of unfair trade and bad policy with countries from around the world. We must not let our country, companies and workers be taken advantage of any longer. We want free, fair and SMART TRADE!

8:12 PM - Mar 1, 2018

• 74K
• 31.2K people are talking about this

DOW was down as much as 500 points.

 

[FriendlyFire]

DOW was down as much as 500 points.

You can see that the manufactoring companies stocks are all down and only a sligth increase for steel mining
Market will probably really crater if China retaliates against the US imports on something else and kick off a trade war.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

I heard about this in the morning too. What is the alleged reasoning for this tariff? This seemed pretty out of left field.

There is no reasoning.

It is out of left field.

It most likely isn't going to happen, ever, and certainly not next week.

The past couple days have produced a deluge of bad headlines for Trump, and this was a naked attempt to move the news cycle. No one has any plan for implementing any tariff, and despite what he may want to believe being president is not some magical thing that allows him to just say "tariff" and have it happen. No one who would be involved in collecting any such tariff has the first clue what he is talking about, from cabinet members to the lowest rungs of departments.

 

[Silurian]

The EU have announced that they will be retaliating.

 

[Zkribbler]

I guess they would just have to revise NAFTA, wouldn't they?



Seems strategic to me. In the long run a country that claims superpower status but cannot produce even a fraction of its own steel and aluminum is finished.

Psst, the US is the number 3 producer of steel in the world.

 

[Colon]

Psst, the US is the number 3 producer of steel in the world.

Incidentally, US' industrial production reached a new record height last December: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/INDPRO/

 

[GoodSarmatian]

The EU have announced that they will be retaliating.

When Bush II tried that, the EU imposed tariffs on orange juice.
Why orange juice ? Because oranges are one of Florida's main exports and the governor of Florida at the time was the President's brother.
The USA soon backed down. Funny how that works.
I wonder what's it going to be this time.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

When Bush II tried that, the EU imposed tariffs on orange juice.
Why orange juice ? Because oranges are one of Florida's main exports and the governor of Florida at the time was the President's brother.
The USA soon backed down. Funny how that works.
I wonder what's it going to be this time.

Imposing a 'foreign property tax' on overseas holdings in Trump developed buildings would make the point nicely.

 

[El_Machinae]

I heard about this in the morning too. What is the alleged reasoning for this tariff? This seemed pretty out of left field.

Strategically, it makes little sense to put a tariff on something with a broad utility. You want an input as cheap as possible. Even better if they're subsidizing it.

But if other places are (effectively) subsidizing their steel production, then a tariff is an appropriate way of balancing the downstream damage caused to your own economy. Demand-pull inflation can raise wages, and there are enough workers in the US who prefer to see their relative wealth go up than their absolute wealth.

But the rationale is that Hope Hicks resigned and Mueller is sniffing around awfully effectively.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

The only thing I like about these tariffs is that it hurts Boeing, since they benefited from a protectionist measure by the administration themselves. Just curious if Trump is going now to angle for tariffs against Airbus. You know, to neutralize the competitive disadvantage to Boeing from the steel tariff.

The Boeing-backed attack on Bombardier was shot down.

This tariff makes no sense except as an infantile, naive attempt to shore up support for his FAILING administration. SAD.

NO COLLUSION

 

[Arwon]

So Canada just starts selling to China now right?

 

[El_Machinae]

So Canada just starts selling to China now right?

Nope, we'll probably skate through on NAFTA. We're gonna buy from China and mark it up and resell it!

 

[Colon]

The Boeing-backed attack on Bombardier was shot down.

By that point Bombardier's C Series had already been taken over by Airbus. It was removed from the market as an independent competitor and Bombardier ceased to be a threat to the cosy duopoly. Sure, it would have been better if the tariffs had been maintained but still a pretty sweet outcome for Boeing (never mind Airbus) and probably the objective all along.