In September, ArcelorMittal, which owns the [steel mill on the outskirts of Philadelphia], announced that it would lay off 150 of the plant’s 207 workers next year. While the cuts will start with the most junior employees, they will go so deep that even workers with decades of experience will be cast out.
[...]
The layoffs have stunned these steelworkers who, just a year ago, greeted President Trump’s election as a new dawn for their industry. Mr. Trump pledged to build roads and bridges, strengthen “Buy America” provisions, protect factories from unfair imports and revive industry, especially steel.
NYT
Is it too soon to say, "I told you so," or to call these poor people suckers?
Foreign steel makers have rushed to get their product into the United States before tariffs start. According to the American Iron and Steel Institute, which tracks shipments, steel imports were 19.4 percent higher in the first 10 months of 2017 than in the same period last year.
Ha. They thought he might be serious, too.
That surge of imports has hurt American steel makers, which were already struggling against a glut of cheap Chinese steel.
[...]
James Rockas, a spokesman for the Commerce Department, said the administration was “aware of the plight of American steel workers and will continue working to halt unfair trade practices that harm our economy and kill American jobs.”
Right. Right.
Uncertainty about how [Trump's early executive order] measures will reshape trade rules is now weighing on many industries. Companies are waiting to invest, or finding additional suppliers outside the United States, executives in agriculture, automobiles, solar energy and information technology have said.
In April, the president ordered parallel investigations into imports of steel and aluminum under the little-used Section 232 of a 1962 trade law, which permits sweeping restrictions to protect national security.
Hell, Trump's done. He signed a document and showed it to cameras. He can't get any more publicity out of it. Are there any actual committees actually doing any investigation?
Wilbur Ross, the commerce secretary, said in late May that he expected to conclude the steel investigation by the end of June.
And in early June, Mr. Trump told a crowd in Cincinnati, “Wait till you see what I’m going to do for steel and your steel companies,” vowing that he would “stop the dumping” of products at superlow prices by other countries.
“We’ll be seeing that very soon. The steel folks are going to be very happy,” he said.
But the announcement never came.
[...]
“I think the White House is immobilized, because they have such a cacophony of voices,” said Senator Sherrod Brown, a Democrat from Ohio who describes himself as an ally of the president on trade. “This administration doesn’t seem to know what it thinks about trade.”
It has no head. Only a reality TV buffoon who likes to pit people against each other and watch the shit show.
And...Wilbur Ross?
There's a guy read for work.
At least he's working f
or himself. And maybe
Putin. Who knows? He sometimes
slips his watchers.
The Commerce Department must present the results of its investigation to the president by Jan. 15. The president will then have 90 days to decide what to do.
Oh, boy. Another last-minute kettle of slop.
President Trump and his advisers say they have been focused on the tax legislation, which Congress passed this week. The White House has said that it plans to turn to trade measures, including the steel investigation, once the bill is signed into law.
An entire White House of advisers and administrators, and they can't handle more than one thing at a time.
Scott Paul, the president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, a trade group that represents steelworkers, said he had “a profound sense of frustration that the president has been using steelworkers as political props.”
Too bad you didn't see that last October.
Kameen Thompson, the union president at the Conshohocken plant, said many workers had voted for Mr. Trump because of his support for steel. “You want to vote for what you believe is going to help you keep a job,” Mr. Thompson said.
[...]
“He told them what they wanted to hear so they would vote for him, and now they’re seeing what president he is,” she said.
You'd think someone old enough to vote would have figured out how that works before now.
...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.
