"These safeguard measures have now achieved their purpose, and as a result of changed economic circumstances it is time to lift them," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan, reading a statement from President Bush.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick, appearing with McClellan at a news conference, said the safeguards helped the industry "get back on its feet."
He said it went through a "tough spot" after the financial crisis of the late 1990s, and the key of the tariff strategy was to give "breathing space" but not "permanent protection."
That’s a nice try at spin, but tariffs serve the purpose of making industries lazy not efficient. By artificially raising the price of steel, the steel industry isn’t forced to do the things that really make them competitive. The U.S. Steel industry is a brain dead patient whose heart won’t stop beating. We can no longer create steel competitively in the world market. Since more people use steel than make steel, it benefits more people to have a lower price over a native industry. If the difference in steel costs were listed on a car’s sticker price more people would understand the results of this protectionism.
If making steel were the only thing these people could do then protecting the industry would have a moral component. But there are plenty of non-manufacturing jobs they can do instead. People naturally hate change, but unless everyone is willing to pay for these industries to create a product less efficiently, the moral component is on the side of the consumer that shouldn’t be made to protect an industry so someone can get re-elected.
Our country is leading the way into the information age. The real money is design and communication not manufacturing. Unless the U.S. steel industry can develop better steel that cannot be made by competitors then it will die. How long should we keep these kinds of industries on government life support?
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