• hitmyspot
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    3 months ago

    Yes, but you seemed to only focus on the effects for the steel industry and handwaved away the loss from rrtaliation.I’m pointing out that it was overall negative.

    Youre also thinking its a zero sum game. In sourcing to the domestic market because of tarrifs means less competitive pricing which reduces demand and productivity. New products are not launched due to costs being too high to do so. New factories go unbuilt.

    Tariffs to build in the negative externalities, like lax labor laws or carbon cost are allowed by WTO and level the playing field making trade more predictable, not more erratic and I expect will be a big part of future global trade. Trunks tariffs were not that. I take your point though that his weren’t that. I think its worth clarifying why.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      you seemed to only focus on the effects for the steel industry

      Trump did cripple the U.S.’s steel industry

      That’s what I’m responding to. He didn’t cripple the industry. It improved after the tariffs.

      Tariffs to build in the negative externalities

      They localize production.

      One way overseas production can out compete domestic production is by letting the foreign market eat all the externalities to keep production costs low.

      Trunks tariffs were not that.

      Largely because American steel production is as messy as anywhere else.

      The future of cheap efficient steel production is going to be centered around electric powered foundries. But set up costs for new foundries are high, and simply costing on existing infrastructure lets prices stay low.

      Tariffs/subsidies give developing industries an opportunity to invest in higher efficiency infrastructure without being priced out of the market.

      They’re not inherently bad. And people being deluded into thinking they are undermines the quality of the industry as a whole, as businesses cling to cheap outdated machinery.

      • hitmyspot
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        3 months ago

        I understand that, but being pedantic doesn’t make your points stronger when you handwave the negatives. You also interpret the steel industry as just steel producers but it is also the purchasers who have seen increasing costs due to tariffs.

        Us steel has made a smaller portion of worldwide supply, while costing more for usa purchasers. However, even with the tariffs, some Costa are down due to less demand, from a cooling economy, which tariffs are partly to blame for.

        Tariffs dont give businesses the opportunity to invest in new infrastructure. They actively make it less necessary for them to do so. They reduce the need to invest in efficiency.

        https://www.barrons.com/articles/biden-trump-steel-tariffs-c44f4279

        • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          https://www.barrons.com/articles/biden-trump-steel-tariffs-c44f4279

          Paywalled.

          Did you subscribe to Barons or are you just throwing up something you googled without reading it?

          a cooling economy, which tariffs are partly to blame for

          The post COVID economy has been red hot, especially in the States. Pre-COVID we just came off an explosive construction boom. Our current demand for minerals exceeds supply.

          You could arguably put inflation on steel tariffs, but that would require you to ignore a deliberate loose domestic lending policy, particularly at the corporate level.

          However you slice it…

          Us steel has made a smaller portion of worldwide supply, while costing more for usa purchasers

          Is a consequence of poor domestic administration combined with poor foreign ecological controls.

          The decision to cash out of US Steel to a Japanese bidder was part of an ongoing liquidation of the industry dating back to the 1990s. That’s well before the US began imposing steel tariffs.

          The tariffs are a response to federal officials recognizing steel as a strategic domestic asset that has been mismanaged. They are not the cause of the mismanagement.