Say what you will about Trump, but steel and aluminum still matter to U.S. security.
It seems like a growing number of critics are coming out to oppose any government action steeming from the Trump administration's Section 232 national security investigations into steel and aluminum imports. Some worry about the potential of retaliatory action from China or other countries, while others are simply opposed to the government issuing potential tariffs on imports on a philosophical level.
And while there is a debate to be had over the best strategy for dealing with the devastating impact of these imports, what cannot be ignored is that China's massive industrial overcapacity is causing major problems that have yet to be effectively addressed.
Scott Paul looks at the issue head-on in a new Medium piece, examining the Trump administration's strategy for combating unfairly traded steel and aluminum imports — and addressing some of the criticism the Section 232 investigations have received:
"It's taken as granted that a tough response from a 232 investigation will generate backlash toward Washington. Even if other nations attemp to retaliate, the United States has has extraordinary success in nullifying those attempts at the World Trade Organization, and there is little doubt we would revail again. A more likely outcome is that steelmakers in the European Union and elsewhere around the world will demand that their own governments pressure China to correct policies at cause for the steel market crisis."
It's in everyone's interest to stabilize the global steel market, Paul writes, and that process begins with a robust Section 232 action:
"In the long term, a market-based system of global steel supply and demand is in everyone's interests. And a global market flooded and distorted with steel from China's state-owned steel industry crowds out real market competition."