XPost: talk.politics.misc, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.politics.usa
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/business/2025/05/31/companies/trump-us-steel-rally/
Trump to hike steel tariffs to 50% to aid Nippon-U.S. Steel
U.S. President Donald Trump said he would be increasing tariffs
on steel to 50% from 25%, saying the move would help protect
American steelworkers during a visit to a United States Steel
plant on Friday.
. . .
There are Libertarian-style questions here.
IF US/JP-Steel cannot produce product at anywhere
near competitive global prices ... SHOULD it be
protected, SHOULD it survive ???
Labor and especially regulatory/insurance costs
make many US biz especially un-competitive.
In THEORY if the new alliance can get strong enough,
and gets a little slack, it MIGHT become strong enough
to actually compete on the global stage, maybe.
In the China perspective - both the US and Japan
need a large source of steel and basic forging
that's secure and on US territory - just in case.
Japan is a small island and too damned close to
China ... it's not really safe in that respect.
An outside source is good for Japan, an inside
source is good for the USA.
But, meanwhile, the tariff picture WILL put strain
on a number of global markets. We knew this would
happen ... but still don't LIKE it while it's
in progress.
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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