Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
June 23, 2017
I am at 35,000 feet and, according to the monitor in front of me, we are traveling at 564 miles per hour and are located over the state of Utah. After working with a great group of attendees at our California Steel 101 program, I am on my way to New York City, where Tim Triplett and I will attend meetings hosted by the LME and Bank of America Merrill Lynch steel and mining analyst Timna Tanners.
We will be in New York City for a couple of days, returning to our offices on Wednesday of this week. If you are planning on being in the city on Monday or Tuesday and would like to meet with me, please send me an email (John@SteelMarketUpdate.com) or text me at 770-596-6268.
If you see the handsome guy in the photo on the left in the Marriott Marquis or on the streets of New York City – stop me and say hello.
I want to take a moment to welcome those who are new to Steel Market Update. I want to thank you for becoming a new member, for attending our Steel 101 workshop, or for registering for a trial to our newsletter and website. I encourage you to spend some time reviewing the contents we have on our website, as well as enjoying our newsletter, which is published on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday evenings. If you have questions about our website, please contact Brett@SteelMarketUpdate.com. If you have questions or suggestions about the content in the newsletters, please contact me at John@SteelMarketUpdate.com.
I heard from one of my scrap sources who advised that the July ferrous scrap market appears poised for sideways movement. There could be some weakness in primes (busheling/bundles) as pig iron prices have dropped. We will have more on the scrap markets once we get into negotiations between the steel mills and their scrap suppliers.
As always your business is truly appreciated by all of us here at Steel Market Update.
John Packard, Publisher
John Packard
Read more from John PackardLatest in Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
We joked in our last Final Thoughts that Wiley trade attorney Tim Brightbill – one of the nation’s leading experts on trade law and policy – would probably be revising his presentation on Trump, trade policy, and tariffs for the Tampa Steel Conference. He did. And even after those last-minute revisions, he actually got trumped […]
Final Thoughts
The whole SMU team is packing up our laptops and our SMU polos/cardigans, loading up the PowerPoint slides, and preparing to make the trek down to Florida for the Tampa Steel Conference. There will be plenty to talk about!
Final Thoughts
From one group of folks, I’ve heard that Trump might not wait until Feb. 1 – the date he threatened on to place tariffs on China, Canada, and Mexico. They say he could act as soon as Friday. And then there are those who don’t think anything will happen before April 1. That’s the deadline for Commerce, Treasury, and USTR to submit key reports on “America First Trade Policy” to President Trump.
Final Thoughts
Trump made a clarification in a speech on Monday. Previously, he had declared the word “tariff” the most beautiful word in the dictionary. No longer.
Final Thoughts
President Donald Trump on Sunday hammered Colombia with 25% tariffs and threatened to increase them to 50%. Trump in a post on Truth Social said he took the action not because of a trade dispute but because the South American nation had refused to accept planes carrying deported immigrants. The president also cited "national security" concerns, just as he did to justify 25% Section 232 tariffs on steel in his first term. Even the 50% threat echoes his first term. Turkish steel, like that of most nations, was assessed a 25% tariff in March 2018. Trump doubled Turkey's tariff to 50% via a tweet in August of that year over a matter unrelated to steel.