Posted on 01/25/2009 5:39:10 PM PST by Steelfish
January 26, 2009
American exporters in last-ditch attempt to stop Obama raising the trade barriers
Carl Mortished and Suzy Jagger
A coalition of leading American exporters, including Boeing, Caterpillar and General Electric, is trying to stop a “Buy America” clause being included in President Obama’s $825 billion stimulus package.
The American Steel First Act would ensure that only US-made steel was used in $64 billion of federally funded infrastructure projects.
The money, earmarked for roads, bridges and waterways, is aimed at kickstarting the economy, but the initiative by steelmakers, which secured support last week in the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee, is opposed by American exporters, who fear retaliation by foreign governments.
Their concern is given credence by the European Commission and by Eurofer, the association of European steelmakers, which said that it would urge the European Union to challenge the “Buy America” clause at the World Trade Organisation. Gordon Moffat, director-general of Eurofer, said that the clause was a clear case of protectionism.
He said: “It looks like they are trying to shut out imports. If we have the means to attack that under WTO rules, we would urge the Commission to do so.”
(Excerpt) Read more at business.timesonline.co.uk ...
—The American Steel First Act would ensure that only US-made steel was used in $64 billion of federally funded infrastructure projects.—
And this is a problem because ...?
It's a stupid idea.
—It’s a stupid idea—
Wow, that explains a lot.
see: Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act
Free markets good. Protectionism bad. How’s that?
The American taxpayer deserves the best quality at the best price for their tax money.
American non-specialty steel is quality. But costlier...and with this plan would only have incentive to become more so.
Because we are bound by the WTO rules that the Congress approved and signed off on.
This is (another) pretty clear violation, and we got kicked around pretty good on the last go around. (that we also lost)
The way to really improve American industry is to remove much of the onerous government restrictions and impediments, not to invite a ruinous trade war with half of the world.
Why?
Isnt’ this standard procedure? Usually we don’t let governments buy foreign vehicles or weapons. THat’s why cops drive fords and chevy’s and not toyotas. Soldiers shoot ARs instead of AKs.
If government is going to take money out of my wallet and spend it to buy material and equipment, the dam well better buy it from companies that employ me and my fellow americans.
I don’t see a problem with it.
Similar ideas backfired big time during the Great Depression and made things more difficult for our manufacturers because they had more trouble selling abroad. Yes, I think Smoot-Hawley was it. Foreign governments retaliated by enacting huge trade barriers for our products. Hence you had a depressed economy here in the US unable to buy US products, as well as foreign markets that wouldn’t accept or made it very difficult for you to sell in them. The problem was made vastly worse as a result.
Let's go to the history books for the answer to your question:
Blocking imports always results in (guess what?) foreign countries retaliating by blocking our exports. Thus begins what is called a Trade War. Which is often followed by a real war.
Smoot Hawley. Pearl Harbor. World War II.
Yes, it is a problem.
Bingo! We have a winner. mamelukesabre said it better than I could have said it. Plus, Americans are continuing to lose their jobs, and the manufacturing sector is getting pummled. Giving the steel industry—and steelworkers—some support duing these tough times is not such a bad idea.
Well said. Not every populist here (they’re NOT conservatives, even though that’s how they self-identify) gets the point about Smoot-Hawley. They’ll give you a long sermon about how great tariffs are.
See post #5
You kool aid drinkers and your smoot hawley crap. seriously! Can’t you think for yourself? This is hardly a smoot hawly tariff.
—Blocking imports always results in (guess what?) foreign countries retaliating by blocking our exports. Thus begins what is called a Trade War. Which is often followed by a real war.
Smoot Hawley. Pearl Harbor. World War II.
—
It’s going to take more than steel protectionism to get Hitler and Tojo to rise from the grave.
It will raise prices slightly, but it’s a step in the right direction.
I’m wondering how many campaign contributions were necessary to get this inserted.
The US Army uses FN-sourced rifles (Belgium) and Beretta (Italy) pistols. They are made in the US, but they are from foreign companies. Most of the cops I know carry Glocks from Austria and HKs from Germany.
The export sector is one of the bright spots in the US economy. Last night, a Saturday, two local factories were busy. One makes aerospace parts for companies including Airbus and EADS. The other produces heavy equipment. Neither company has had any layoffs and they are scheduled to be at full production for at least he next two years. Each company exports more than 50% of their production.
There are a lot of people on FR who want to believe that there is no manufacturing in the US. There is still a lot, but we could kill it with poor political decisions.
Precisely correct!
Your response is interesting given your tag line. How do you define liberty?
Takes coal to make steel. Lots of it. Any billions spent on the project will be middlemanned away by the enviroslimes.(Sierra club bailout ping)
Ok Help me here, Do we even export anything of substance anymore?
I am sure we do but some days I wonder what it is because it seems everything is now made overseas anyway.
Screw the vermin at General Electric. They own NBC and MSNBC who also employ Olberman. GE, MSNBC and NBC hate America, hated Bush, fawned and slobbered endlessly over Obama and run a shady operation.
Boycott GE.
I’m sure you bought Curtis-Mathes TVs right up until the end, right?
See Wikepedia-causes of the great depression.
Yes. Cars. Airplanes. Heavy equipment. Grain harvesters. Integrated circuits. Pharmaceuticals. Chemicals. Coal. Timber. Food.
We’re the number one exporter in the world - both for all exports AND for manufactured goods.
Cool, yes sometimes if you listen to the main stream media you would think we no longer produce anything of substance except software and alcohol.
I once was told that much of our best hardwood lumber goes to Japan.
Liberty would be the freedom to vote in a gov't to take it away.
She stopped by my place this afternoon after work and told me customers are livid and are returning tools in great numbers along with choice words.
The tools are marked "Craftsman", but look a little further for the "Made in China" stamp.
She said the pliers are snapping in half like uncooked spaghetti.
Sears is on shaky grounds already, and things like this will seal its fate.
Not too many years ago, when the New York/Wall Street money suits took control of the corporation from the old-fashioned, experienced and customer-friendly retail experts, the down-hill slide commenced.
Now, if you need help, you're lucky if even the cash register cubicles are manned. You have to look for floor help and it isn't always there.
Service is almost gone.....and most of the clerks are on commission and part-time.
I give Sears one more year.....just enough time for the NY suits to make sure their golden parachutes are intact and ready to be checked out at the corporate cash register cubicle.
Leni
We export farm products, including grain. We farmers don’t want to be shut out of world markets.
hmmm... the average chinese citizen makes about $2000/yr. how many American cars is he buying again? mexico has seen their average income jump from ~$1500/yr in the early 90s to about $8,000/yr these days. how many cars are they buying?
here’s one.. name a country were the US has a net positive trading partnership. exports to country A - imports from country A.
the globalists play a game of smoke an mirrors and hope no one ever looks at the books
I'm not so sure--
Might it be that when Smoot-Hawley was enacted, America exported far more than it imported back then, making us then more vulnerable to a tarrif war than perhaps we are now.
And if the Chinese let the value of the Yuan increase instead of supressing its value, think of how many more cars they could afford to buy from us.
I don't think the rest of the world wants to starve, either.
Of course, worse case is all the illegal Mexican farmworkers go back to Mexico to pick fruit there.
Nah, you just need to listen to the protectionists here on FR to find out that we make nothing and export nothing! Facts don't matter...
I once was told that much of our best hardwood lumber goes to Japan.
Yes, that is true! The best fir from the Northwest goes to Japan, because they'll pay 2-3 times the price that the US market will pay. Only makes sense - sell it where you can get the most (and by the way that helps out the trade deficit).
Then how come we have to borrow money from China to pay our bills and to finance making stuff?
So then you reckon it's OK to risk the exports we do have by sparking a trade war? Also, we are the worlds largest exporter BTW.
Then how come we have to borrow money from China to pay our bills and to finance making stuff?
I don’t get it: China cheats by artificially valuing its currency, and that’s free trade?
After all, it worked once before.
Why have a recession when you can have a Great Depression?
How long you think before China figures out how to make the rest of that stuff for themselves, and cheaper than we can sell it to them?
Buick sells more cars in China than in the US, and if you ever visited China you'd recognize that fact. The number of Buick sedans and minivans is staggering.
Likewise the number of Ford Focus and Fusions on the roads is amazing. They'd much rather buy a Ford or Buick than a Honda or Toyota.
Yes, the average salary is around $2K per year; but there are literally tens of millions who make $50K or more per year. Percentage-wise their upper-class is a quarter of ours, but given there are nearly 5 times as many Chinese as the US, you end up with about the same number of consumers who can afford American cars.
Must hate it when facts don't support your pre-conceived notions!
here’s one.. name a country were the US has a net positive trading partnership. exports to country A - imports from country A.
You mean where the US has a trade surplus? OK, try these:
The Netherlands.
Hong Kong.
United Arab Emirates.
Belgium.
Australia.
Chile.
Want me to go on?
the globalists play a game of smoke an mirrors and hope no one ever looks at the books
Au contraire! Isolationists/protectionists simply make stuff up and refuse to look at the actual facts. Which conclusively point to the fact we make more, and export more, than anyone else in the world.
We don't borrow to finance making stuff. We borrow for stupid stimulus spending programs like this one. We also borrow to give welfare to F'ed up banks, assorted welfare to taxeating deadbeats, and massive wasteful government programs not sanctioned in the Constitution. We also borrow to pay the interest on previous spending.
You really have to ask? Because even with punitive corporate taxation, our Government continues to spend and spend and spend. As good as we do in making and building and selling and shipping stuff, our Government does even better spending funds it doesn't have.
If you're the best surgeon in your town, you can make a ton of money. But I bet you can still find a wife who can spend your income faster...
The usual way, punk. Go play stump a chump with someone else.
But how much of that stuff or its components that we “export” is actually made in the U.S.A?
Or is it or its components manufactured in American factories overseas by foreign workers?
Quite enlightened of you! Liberty - the right to self-determination and the ability to conducts one's affairs as they see fit - apparently is not allowed, if it violates your personal view of economy.
How is that position different from that of Obama, Alinsky, or Marx?
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