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Friday, the appearance of Trump in the west of Pennsylvania was supposed to be an announcement that US Steel remains open when he approves the sale of the company in Japanese Steel.
There was a lot of cheers and the usual mixture of lies, exaggerations and false promises of Trump, but that the public made it or not at the time, Trump also announced a decision that could kill their work.
Trump said:
We will impose an increase of 25%. We will bring it from 25% to 50%, steel prices in the United States of America, which will still guarantee the steel industry in the United States. No one will get around this, so we offer.
From 25%, we double it 50%. And it is a escape. And by the way, I must tell you, I believe that this group of people who have just made these investments at the moment are very happy because it means that no one will be able to steal your industry. It's uh, at 25%, they can somehow overcome this fence at 50%.
They can no longer overcome the fence.
The problem is that Trump prices will increase the price of steel when it is not possible for the United States to meet domestic demand with domestic production.
According to a Eiu analysis:
It is very unlikely that local production can increase enough to completely replace net imports in the medium term. Some of the largest American acidullers – notably Nucor, the dynamics of steel and American steel – are an expansion capacity.
…
However, the current extensions represent only a small proportion of the country's net imports. Internal capacity use rates did not exceed around 85%, even when steel prices have reached record heights of all time (almost three times higher than today) at the end of 2021, against recent operating rates of around 75%, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute. In addition, there are discrepancies between the type of production products allocated and domestic.
…
In the longer term, we do not expect more effective American price rates on steel by themselves in order to stimulate domestic production or encourage renaissance in American manufacturing.
Higher steel prices mean less steel used. Less steel used means less work for steel workers, which is equivalent to dismissals and job losses.
Basically, Trump came in western Pennsylvania to announce that his pricing policies could kill the Silers jobs.
Since Trump is still spraying with regard to prices, he could go back from all this, but if he does not do so, these same applauded steel workers could soon find himself out of a job.
What do you think of Trump to potentially kill steel jobs? Share your reflections in the comments below.