
Trump announces tariffs: 25% on steel and 10% on aluminum - enraged_camel
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2018/02/28/white-house-planning-major-announcement-thursday-on-steel-and-aluminum-imports/?utm_term=.6492ddc58040
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Zimahl
Two, maybe three, decades too late for aluminum. I don't think there is a
single aluminum plant left in the Pacific NW when we used to have a fair
number of them with Reynolds and Kaiser. Those plants aren't just going to
come back online either, an entire generation of workers has moved on.

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joezydeco
MillerCoors agrees:

"Like most brewers, we are selling an increasing amount of our beers in
aluminum cans, and this action will cause aluminum prices to rise. It is
likely to lead to job losses across the beer industry

We buy as much domestic can sheet aluminum as is available, however, there
simply isn’t enough supply to satisfy the demands of American beverage makers
like us. American workers and American consumers will suffer as a result of
this misguided tariff"

[https://twitter.com/MillerCoors/status/969312711371886594](https://twitter.com/MillerCoors/status/969312711371886594)

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woodandsteel
This is happening because Trump and his supporters want to get the US back to
the 50's when the country was a huge exporter.

The problem is the 50's were an aberration. That's because all the other major
industrial powers had been devastated or at least impoverished by WWII. But
they rebuilt, and new industrial powers like China arose, and so we got back
to the normal state of affairs of lots of competition.

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dahdum
I was a supporter of Bernie and he planned to do the same thing, for basically
the same reasons. He didn't pick this unilaterally either, the Commerce
department recommended it.

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smt88
Do you have links where we can read about this?

I can't find evidence that Bernie advocated tariffs at these levels. I know he
spoke against "unfettered free trade" and new agreements like TPP, but I
remember him talking more about taxing the import of labor (US companies using
foreign labor) more than materials (US companies importing goods).

It also looks like the Commerce Dept was staunchly against this idea in
2016[1].

1\. [https://news.vice.com/article/trumps-views-on-trade-are-
clos...](https://news.vice.com/article/trumps-views-on-trade-are-closer-to-
bernie-sanders-than-the-republican-party)

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kombucha2
According to USA Today Bernie did say that

[1][His campaign says Sanders also would impose countervailing tariffs on
imports from China and Japan “until they stop dumping steel into the United
States and stop manipulating their currencies.”]

1.[https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2016...](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2016/03/31/bernie-
sanders-pledges-rewrite-disastrous-trade-deals/82473012/)

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tonyedgecombe
Won't this just add costs to higher value manufacturers further up the supply
chain?

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sempron64
Tariffs do increase costs. However, if China is actually dumping heavily
subsidized steel on the market (supposedly via other countries) and driving
prices below cost, and if this puts our steel mills at risk of closing (which
seemingly it does), not imposing a tariff risks a supply shortage in the
future when China cuts heavy subsidies and incentives. Steel mills take a very
long time to build and scale to operation, and this would be devastating, more
so than slightly increased prices now.

It can be argued that something similar is happening with oil, in which OPEC
countries have massively increased their output, many at a loss, to prevent
the U.S. shale oil industry from developing into a contender. The government
has turned a blind eye to this for 2 reasons, I think

1) The supply glut has devastated the Russian economy and currency, and the
enemy of my enemy etc. -- this hearkens back to Obama-era foreign policy of
sanctions during the beginning of the Ukraine conflict, and cozying up
to/improving our "alliance" with Saudi Arabia.

2) Imposing an oil tariff/intentionally raising oil prices in any way is a
huge political no-no as the populace refuses to pay more at the pump. This is
despite prices more than double the current level (considering inflation)
being tolerated at the pump not long ago at all.

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mkempe
What authority does the president have for such tariffs?

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mkempe
Ambrose Bierce gave an accurate description of the ultimate end in this kind
of trade barrier: _TARIFF, n. A scale of taxes on imports, designed to protect
the domestic producer against the greed of his customers._

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cmurf
Bush 2 tried this in 2002 and lifted it in 2003 because the unintended
consequences were worse. Obama also tried targeted tariffs, they were lifted.
This just a way to tax specific vertical industries and reward others, picking
and choosing winners. And taxes are ultimately paid by American consumers.

Also, most steel imports come from Canada, Mexico and Brazil, not China.

In a normal administration, this would get lifted when the retaliation begins
and it becomes clear the only way to win is not to play. But...

