The hits just keep on comin’ for Donald Trump and the suddenly-beleaguered MAGA economy.
Just days after the rather disappointing news that US Steel plans to lay off hundreds of workers in Michigan, the company said it will idle a tin mill within three months, imperiling dozens of additional jobs.
The decision is related to an effort to consolidate operations in the US and it could translate into as many as 150 layoffs.
Read more: US Steel Layoffs Are Stark Reminder Of The Reality Behind Trump’s MAGA ‘Miracle’
Shares plunged more than 5% on Friday amid a broader market swoon occasioned by Trump’s trade and Fed balderdash. It was the fourth consecutive day of losses. The shares are down 26% this month and a truly “impressive” 77% since Trump announced the imposition of 25% duties on foreign steel.
Apparently, the latest action is tied to “high levels of low-priced imported tin”, although details are somewhat sparse.
The affected mill employs nearly 300 people, around half of whom are expected to get positions at two of the company’s other facilities. Hopefully they won’t eventually close too.
“We will work with the union and we’ll work with existing vacancies in other plants to place as many people as we can”, a company spokeswoman promised, adding that “the exact numbers haven’t been finalized”.
Apparently, demand has been hit by the cheaper imports which have grabbed around half of the market in the US. “It’s definitely a trade issue”, the company said.
The Chicago Tribune captures the heart of the problem pretty succinctly. “In August 2018, US Steel announced it was investing $750 million to revitalize its flagship Gary plant to gear up for increased demand in the wake of President Trump’s tariffs on imported steel”, the paper recalls.
But, as we mentioned earlier this week, steel prices have plunged, in part because the trade war has weighed on the outlook for growth. “The domestic steel industry emerged as an early winner, but steel prices have since fallen sharply in the wake of a cooling global economy and decreased demand”, the Tribune goes on to say.
Since the onset of the trade war, analysts and economists have variously warned that Trump was grossly underestimating how daunting a task rewriting the rules of global trade and commerce was likely to be. That skepticism, along with the common sense assessment that says revitalizing struggling domestic industries can’t possibly be as simple as slapping on tariffs and patting oneself on the back as the renaissance unfolds, informed the opinions of those who suggested the administration’s policies would be a dead end.
The bottom line is that, stripped of the nuance, US Steel’s predicament would appear to be another example of promises made, but certainly not kept. America’s farmers know a lot about that too.
Could you imagine if Republicans had actually elected a competent, racist right-wing demagogue instead of a game-show host dingbat.
Trump wants tariffs on foreign steel, a border wall with Mexico, a trillion-dollar infrastructure program, and unlimited domestic energy production, and is benefiting from historically low yields for Treasurys and the newfound power to declare everything a national emergency, redirect Congressional spending, and controls monetary policy to boot. The Constitution is whatever five people, two of them his, say it is.
So follow me here. A real life President could easily get Congress to pass a pork-laden infrastructure bill to build bridges and ports and other things that rely on steel, supplied by coal. Borrowing costs for all of this is ridiculously low, and exported steel is priced out by unilaterally imposed tariffs. This fictional, competent President could then, apparently by fiat, construct a wall along the Mexican border composed in part by steel slats. Fracked gas could be piped throughout the country and even out into export markets through high-end steel pipes that do not break and leak poison into people’s drinking water. Republicans get business-friendly policies, their hate monument, and blue collar votes in the Rust Belt.
Instead, this serial idiot, this man-child, this demented dotard, cannot pass any infrastructure bill. He cannot build anything beyond a couple of chain-linked fences, and cannot create demand for two 19th Century commodities his own retrograde policies and electoral success demand, even with cheap money and a protected domestic market.
When arrogance and hubris finally prevailed over decency and reason this is the result , hopefully only for a limited time…Then again there was the example of the Romans……………
You forgot to mention Trump’s “Space Command”
Harvey all true. And it should be stated that all of this occurs or does not occur with robust support from his base and his fellow republicans.
Now if you will give me a little credit for stopping by here first, I need to go evaluate talent for my “Old Skull University” team. We; “The Power and the Glory” kick off Season VII with the draft Thursday night.
Trump is doing what is best for the country in the long term…and standing up to cheating, thieving China is long overdue! Short term pain is better than future disaster…plus there’s the 8 years of Bath-House Barry’s huge debt and ruinous policies still to deal with, and a do-nothing Congress. Frankly, the job Trump is doing is amazing!
Awwwwww,, Richard really? With any luck, you and your donald will be in the same wing in a mental institution that reasonable people will open. Perhaps you and your idol will make America great again with blunt scissors and construction paper
“huge debt”… it’s pretty clear that quite a few of the president’s supporters simply refuse to accept reality on multiple fronts.
Trump has exploded the deficit when the economy didn’t need it. his fiscal policies are, objectively speaking (i.e., stripped of partisan bias) exceptionally irresponsible.
he is now the all-time record holder for most interest paid on US government debt in a single year.
and all of that from a purported “Republican”. the CBO’s latest budget outlook is a veritable disaster.
https://heisenbergreport.com/2019/08/21/us-seen-hemorrhaging-red-ink-as-deficit-to-top-1-trillion-sooner-than-expected/
Richard:
You betray your lack of understanding and political bias when you criticize POTUS 44’s “huge debt” – failing to recognize that that debt growth was to address (sussessfully) the utter disaster left by the previous Republican administartion ending with the ’08 financial fiasco. Please, either find out what you’re talking about or STFU.
Lowest unemployment rate in 10 years and the lose of a few hundred jobs is big news?
In the end, in other words the end game, all of these things will prove correct. The problem with the left is they have no balls and would prefer a recession until China takes over the world. Short term pain will prove to be the answer long term, long term being how the Chinese think. Trump doesn’t care what it takes, it has to be done. And if any of you think your 401k would be higher with Hillary at the controls.. think again!
Well Mr. Trump, it’s time for you to Step Up to the plate & show China that you know how to play hardball too. From what I seen, you got mad because a Communist Nation chose to Invest 1.5 billion dollars into their own Car Company; you have the Opportunity to Upgrade Our Future Military Housing Area’s with Floating Satellites & by doing this, not only will the Steel Industry be Saved, but it Will Boost Our Economy up with plenty of Jobs.
Such satellites can be used for the Development of the African Continent (whereby we can get back some of the Billions of American Dollars already sent to the United Nations) that holds 21 of the 27 strategic minerals in our World. Since, you want to be Remembered for your Presidential Contributions then Do This, because it will be around for over 200 years.