Canada, Europe Getting Slapped With Steel Tariffs

SIPA Asia via ZUMA

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President Trump mad! President Trump smash bad Canadians! Tariffs start at midnight:

Chuck Bradford, a U.S.-based metals analyst, said there would be “no effect” on Canadian steel producers, who will “just charge more for the steel.”

Their U.S. customers, he said, “may not have any choice: there may not be any steel available of the grades they need.” And even if there is, Bradford said, they may be most comfortable sticking with their previous supplier. “Even steel of the same theoretical design or same type may not be the same from different mills….And if you’re an automaker…you’d like the supplier that you have, because you know your equipment works well with their type of steel,” he said.

Jean Simard, president of the Aluminum Association of Canada, said it is “impossible” for American aluminum producers to step in and fill the demand….“It’s a big sleeper; it’s the kind of thing that happens, you don’t feel it and at some point in time you look at the statistics and you’ve destroyed hundreds of thousands of jobs.”

If this is true, then Trump’s temper tantrum will have no effect except to damage everyone’s economy a bit. And if it does have an effect, it will mostly just damage everyone’s economy a bit—but with the added bonus that American steel and aluminum companies will become a little more profitable and their executives will make more money.¹

Oh, and ordinary Americans will pay more for their cars and their soup. But who cares about them?

¹What, you thought it might create more jobs for steelworkers? It might create a few. But mostly it will just allow US companies to raise their prices. Ka-ching! It’s reward time for the corporate wing of the Republican Party that Trump really cares about.

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PLEASE—BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things it doesn’t like—which is most things that are true.

We’ll say it loud and clear: At Mother Jones, no one gets to tell us what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please do your part and help us reach our $150,000 membership goal by May 31.

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