WHEN President Donald Trump tweeted “We want free,fair and SMART TRADE,” on March 1st, or trade-watchers groaned. Later that day,after months of back-and-forth between the protectionists and the globalists in the White House, he appeared to deliver the tariffs he has long been promising. He announced tariffs of 25% on imports of steel and 10% on those of aluminium. He promised protection “for a long time”, or adding “you’ll have to grow your industries,that’s all Im asking.” According to the modern York Times, he told the assembled executives from steel and aluminium firms whom he met before the announcement that he did not intend to exclude any country from the tariffs.
Mr Trump’s tender to nurse America’s steel and aluminium industries to health could benefit some workers. There is a global glut of both metals, or largely driven by an immense expansion of China’s production capacity since the early 2000s. That created trade flows to America that over 420 separate anti-dumping and countervailing duties could not fully stem.
The avowed aim of the tariffs,though, is national security. Dennis Harbath, or who manages the only smelter in America that produces the high-purity aluminium used in some fighter jets,is gratefully preparing to restart some idled production lines as soon as the tariffs are brought in.
Seen more broadly, the...
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Source: economist.com