Trump says he will impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports 'next week'

[EasyAce]

By David Jackson
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/03/01/trump-prepares-tariffs-steel-and-aluminum/384187002/

WASHINGTON — President Trump said Thursday he will soon place tariffs on steel and aluminum imports —  a move that could trigger retaliation from trade partners who may target American products.

"We'll be signing it next week," Trump said after discussing tariffs with a group of steel and aluminum executives, calling it the first "protection" they have had "in a while."

While arguing that the United States has been treated "horribly treated by other countries," Trump also told the executives that "you'll have to regrow your industries, that's all I'm asking."

Trump told reporters he would impose 25% percent tariffs on steel imports and 10% on aluminum imports.

Some business leaders have long questioned the wisdom of tariffs, saying other countries would go after U.S. products and higher prices for everybody would result . . .

[edpc]

Market didn’t initially care for the news.....

Dow sheds 400 points after Trump says steel and aluminum tariffs coming next week

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/01/us-stocks-powell-fed-trump.html


In before the ‘Regan imposed tariffs’ crowd.....

[EasyAce]

Market didn’t initially care for the news.....

Dow sheds 400 points after Trump says steel and aluminum tariffs coming next week

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/01/us-stocks-powell-fed-trump.html


In before the ‘Regan imposed tariffs’ crowd.....

@edpc
Not to mention GWB and the others.

And those presidents were wrong on tariffs, too.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

This was the thinking on Smoot Hawley, we'll tariff the shit out of our trading partners and grow business. Didn't work then, won't work now.

[Stevensr123]

Silly decision, all it will do is increase prices, which either means less jobs or higher prices for the average person.

This tax cut will be wiped out for the everyday man pretty soon with decisions like this and the gas tax increase.

[ABX]

Trump just said on TV “You know I remember a time when US Steel was a great company and we are going to make America’s steel and aluminum great again.”

Whatever your politics are...there is one indisputable fact: in 1982 Japan’s steel industry created a new technology that cut the input cost and labor cost of making steel by up to 76%.

When US Steel created $1 million of steel in 1982 it took 25 employees...today it takes the leading steelmakers just 5 employees to make the same $$ volume.

The indisputable economic fact is Japanese steel technology disrupted the ancient US Steel technology...US Steel got their clocks cleaned. They sought and got price protections later in the 80’s and still for 40 YEARS they did not match Japanese technology and lost market share.

Why is the Dow Jones off 550 points on the news that the USA has initiated a 1920’s like trade war?

Because investors now realize the leader of the free world lives and thinks in a 20th-century mindset and lives in his own personal reality that is so far removed from the actual 21st Century it’s batshit insane.

[EasyAce]

Silly decision, all it will do is increase prices, which either means less jobs or higher prices for the average person.

This tax cut will be wiped out for the everyday man pretty soon with decisions like this and the gas tax increase.

I said it last week when it first seeped out that Donaldus Minimus was pondering the tariffs, and these on top of the ones he's already slapped
on imported washing machines: it was a nice tax cut while it lasted.

[EasyAce]

This was the thinking on Smoot Hawley, we'll tariff the shit out of our trading partners and grow business. Didn't work then, won't work now.

You took the words right out of my head (where they had plenty of room to bounce around). How'd the Great Depression work out for our parents/
grandparents?

[edpc]

The indisputable economic fact is Japanese steel technology disrupted the ancient US Steel technology...US Steel got their clocks cleaned. They sought and got price protections later in the 80’s and still for 40 YEARS they did not match Japanese technology and lost market share.

Why is the Dow Jones off 550 points on the news that the USA has initiated a 1920’s like trade war?

Well, another indisputable fact is the Japanese were able to upgrade their production methods and technology, because we had destroyed all their previous methods of manufacturing in WWII.  They spent decades rebuilding it and had the benefit of not needing to retool. 

The market is responding and repositioning based on the news.  They should get out of certain companies.  It’s responsible to their clients.

That said, this isn’t the best economic move, IMO.  There are other ways to incentivize domestic production besides tariffs and trade wars.

[ABX]

You took the words right out of my head (where they had plenty of room to bounce around). How'd the Great Depression work out for our parents/
grandparents?

Just as bad, as I noted above, government sponsored price protections (aka tariffs) actually retarded innovation as US Steel and others, got to sit with their thumbs up their ass instead of innovating to compete. Now they want the same government protection to still keep operating like it is 1975.

[ABX]

Well, another indisputable fact is the Japanese were able to upgrade their production methods and technology, because we had destroyed all their previous methods of manufacturing in WWII.  They spent decades rebuilding it and had the benefit of not needing to retool. 

The market is responding and repositioning based on the news.  They should get out of certain companies.  It’s responsible to their clients.

That said, this isn’t the best economic move, IMO.  There are other ways to incentivize domestic production besides tariffs and trade wars.

It isn't just that we rebuilt them. They innovated quality control methods like Kaizen and championed automation. Something US Steel not only refused to do, but lobbied to ban as they felt it would harm their union rolls.

[Suppressed]

Because investors now realize the leader of the free world lives and thinks in a 20th-century mindset and lives in his own personal reality that is so far removed from the actual 21st Century it’s batshit insane.

Yup.

He's declaring war on Americans, to pay off his union buddies. 

[WingNot]

I hate China.  Drop the bomb (figuratively)  on them.
I want to see how they will respond.

[GrouchoTex]

So the price of goods manufactured by these metals will go up.
Items, like......firearms?

I an in the oilfield, and I buy a lot of carbon steel. I get it from a local vendor.
He gets a lot of it from Turkey (the Country, not the Bird ).
Also, 400 series stainless from Europe cost less than it does here.

I imagine our COGS just went up.

[Suppressed]

I hate China.  Drop the bomb (figuratively)  on them.
I want to see how they will respond.

! No longer available

[goatprairie]

@edpc
Not to mention GWB and the others.

And those presidents were wrong on tariffs, too.

And they rescinded them. But something tells me Trump will never admit  when he's wrong. And he's wrong about this.

[roamer_1]

Whatever your politics are...there is one indisputable fact: in 1982 Japan’s steel industry created a new technology that cut the input cost and labor cost of making steel by up to 76%.

I am still thrilled to find old us steel. It cuts like butter. It welds smooth and clean. Strong.

The steel today is crap. Very expensive crap.

[Fishrrman]

While arguing that the United States has been treated "horribly treated by other countries," Trump also told the executives that "you'll have to regrow your industries, that's all I'm asking."

No complaints from me.
He's absolutely right.

[RoosGirl]

I am still thrilled to find old us steel. It cuts like butter. It welds smooth and clean. Strong.

The steel today is crap. Very expensive crap.

Yeah, I was just getting ready to say that Japan may have been able to make it a lot cheaper, but Japanese steel back in the 80s was crap, which was why people were still buying Craftsman tools and not the cheap Japanese knock off.

[roamer_1]

Yeah, I was just getting ready to say that Japan may have been able to make it a lot cheaper, but Japanese steel back in the 80s was crap, which was why people were still buying Craftsman tools and not the cheap Japanese knock off.

Oh yeah... it was crap. It got to where we would rather salvage and clean it up than buy new. Try to cut a decent line on that jap junk... It would turn out jagged enough to have to grind... Full of slag holes and blowouts. I actually found more than one embedded ball bearings.

[Bigun]

As a matter of economics, tariffs are NEVER a good idea.  And it doesn't matter who puts th e m in place.

[BassWrangler]

Everything Trump says makes sense when you just preface it with, "Donald from Queens, you're on the air."

[Suppressed]

As a matter of economics, tariffs are NEVER a good idea.  And it doesn't matter who puts th e m in place.

In a fledgling economy, one that you don't care to do well, but is just in survival mode, they can work.  But it holds an economy back.  It's no mere coincidence that our economy was stalled pretty flat until we finally got rid of tariffs and the US sprung to the forefront of the world. 

Lower gears have their place, but Donnie wants to take an economy that's cruising on the highway (maybe not the fast lane, but we're a bit above the tariff-appropriate unindustrialized situation) and throw it into low.

Brilliant move, Donnie.

[GrouchoTex]

Bauxite is used to make Aluminum.
North American Bauxite reserves are the 2nd lowest by region in the world.
Only Central America has lower bauxite reserves.
South America, the Caribbean, Europe, Africa, Asia, and the South Pacific have more.
We have to import the bauxite to make aluminum here.
What is to keep these bauxite exporters from slapping a tariff on the bauxite coming into the USA?
This is a stupid idea that will only hurt the consumers and the end users.

[XenaLee]

In a fledgling economy, one that you don't care to do well, but is just in survival mode, they can work.  But it holds an economy back.  It's no mere coincidence that our economy was stalled pretty flat until we finally got rid of tariffs and the US sprung to the forefront of the world. 

Lower gears have their place, but Donnie wants to take an economy that's cruising on the highway (maybe not the fast lane, but we're a bit above the tariff-appropriate unindustrialized situation) and throw it into low.

Brilliant move, Donnie.

Another step forward, another TWO steps back.