Trump's Steel Tariff Shakes Global Trade Order, EU Group Warns

[DonViejo]

Source: Bloomberg News



By Jonathan Stearns
March 2, 2018, 5:58 AM EST

Donald Trump’s plan to curb U.S. imports of steel on national-security grounds threatens the foundations of the World Trade Organization, warned a European industry group.

“This whole issue can blow up the WTO,” Axel Eggert, director general of the European Steel Association, said in an interview on Friday in Brussels. “This is not about national security. This is about propping up a U.S. industry that isn’t viable.”

The U.S. president’s pledge to impose a 25 percent tariff on foreign steel risks provoking tit-for-tat retaliation across the globe and a slew of complaints to the Geneva-based WTO, which has never ruled on a dispute involving trade restrictions justified on national-security grounds.

Three other such cases are working their way through the WTO’s dispute-settlement system. They involve Russia and Ukraine, which is battling Moscow-backed rebels in the eastern part of the country, and Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, which has cut economic ties to the neighboring country after allegations it supports terrorist groups.





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[Stonepounder]

1. As another OP said, Trump is stupider than he looks.

He somehow thinks that tariffs and steel and aluminum will be paid TO the United States instead of simply raising the price of everything that uses steel and aluminum IN the United States. We don't have a viable steel industry. I can remember as a kid driving through Pennsylvania at night and seeing the glow from all the steel mills. They aren't there any more. Where are we supposed to get the steel from? We'll have to keep importing it, and everything that uses steel goes up in price 25%.

So tax break on one hand (that goes about 85% to the wealthy and takes from the middle and lower classes) and prices going up on durable goods. And please bear in mind that trade wars often lead to shooting wars.

[loveandlight]

2. is this good for Putin??

Causing havoc in the EU and other countries. Is Trump doing the bidding of his boss? That's what I find myself wondering.