
Outlaw Chinese Steel - ArtDev
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/leo-w-gerard/outlaw-chinese-steel_b_9817034.html?utm_hp_ref=world&ir=World
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jdietrich
The article is presenting allegations as facts. US Steel has asked the US
International Trade Commission to investigate, but Baosteel strenuously denies
all these allegations.

[http://www.baosteel.com/group_en/contents/2863/81262.html](http://www.baosteel.com/group_en/contents/2863/81262.html)

There is a strong element of hypocrisy. Last year, US Steel was one of several
American steel companies who were ruled against in a $103m class action suit
for price fixing.

[http://business.cch.com/ald/StandardIronWorksArcelormittal10...](http://business.cch.com/ald/StandardIronWorksArcelormittal10202015.pdf)

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andersen1488
>The article is presenting allegations as facts

I only needed to read the domain name to know that would be the case.

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marme
Steel in china is produced by SOEs, by definition an SOE is not capitalistic
it is communist. If a communist entity wants to export subsidized steel at or
below cost why should the US stop them? buy all their steel and then laugh
when you sell back luxury cars to them made from that cheap steel they gave
you. Germany seems do be doing this well buying cheap cheap household goods
and commodities and selling back high end goods the chinese can not reliably
produce

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toomuchtodo
Because you've then lost your local steel industry, put out of business by
those dumping. Steel could be considered a strategic commodity, unless you
want to be beholden to China for your future steel needs.

EDIT: You might be okay overpaying for steel for buildings, but would you be
satisfied if China said you couldn't have steel for warships? Because they're
entitled to not sell you a product if they don't want to.

When we needed titanium for the SR-71, we had to purchase it from Russia
through shell corporations:

[http://www.mining.com/bbc-future-sr-71-blackbird-the-cold-
wa...](http://www.mining.com/bbc-future-sr-71-blackbird-the-cold-wars-
ultimate-spy-plane-11725/)

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macarthy12
By Leo W. Gerard International President, United Steelworkers..

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iofj
If you want to say "this would be a very good thing for US manufacturing
employees", then yes, that would be true.

And frankly, his arguments are true to some extent. We all know this :
outlawing Chinese steel imports would make a lot of buildings and bridges and
even cars in the US safer. And somewhat more expensive.

By contrast, not doing this essentially dooms a few million relatively
unskilled and highly paid Americans to unemployment, at least in the short
term.

Caveat: highly paid is compared to the average, not what an SV'er would
consider highly paid.

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Someone1234
Instead of the US limiting Chinese steel imports, the US Government should buy
it on mass, and simply store it.

If the Chinese government are in fact subsidizing it, that's just free money
into the US Government's pocket, and once steel prices inevitably rises once
more the USG could just sell that same steel back to China.

It is win/win/win. US steel wins because Chinese steel goes up in price due to
demand, it is a win for the USG because they make money, and it is a win for
the international community as it stabilises steel prices.

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roflchoppa
Is there large environmental impact from mining steel ores, like there is from
say fracking?

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undersuit
It's the smelting that causes most of the environmental impact.

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tnuc
American companies are all for free trade when it suits them.

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yompers888
For anyone who favors free trade as a standard reaction, but who gets an
uneasy feeling, this interview had some pretty good arguments about why China
is different. I can't say I've figured out what to think on the issue, but
it's a good thought exercise if you have a commute to kill.

[http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2016/03/david_autor_on_1.ht...](http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2016/03/david_autor_on_1.html)

The host is quite libertarian, but he's also a challenging interviewer who has
a knack for asking the right questions.

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djschnei
Good old protectionism.

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gscott
Huffington Post begins to sound like Trump supporters?

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bsamuels
huffington post is probably as far left as you can get in an online
publication

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imglorp
Some of Trump's ideas are pretty far left also.

For example, he proposed taxing vehicles imported from Mexico by semi-American
companies like Ford. That's not exactly the free trade GOP party line.

[http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/elections/201...](http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/elections/2015/06/16/trump-
press-ford-cancel-mexican-plant/28816173/)

~~~
dragonwriter
Protectionism is neither "left" nor "right", its essentially an orthogonal
axis. There are dissenters from the broad neoliberal trade consensus across
the left/right spectrum. (Generally, the main dissent on the left _favors_
international trade agreements, but favors stronger common labor, human
rights, and environmental protections that are common in the current
international regime, with tariffs as a fallback if they can't get these kinds
of deals; the dissent on the right is more likely -- like Trump -- to see
tariffs as a tool more directly to deal with trade imbalance, to see it about
a weapon for "winning" trade.)

Not everything that disagrees with the dominant position of the Republican
Party is "far left".

