Economy

Letter to the Editor: ‘Where’s the Balance?’

Written by Tim Triplett

March 29, 2018

I just can’t understand how a quote by Richard Chriss (president of the American Institute for International Steel), which is outdated and clearly wrong can make it into a story. There seemed to be no balance to the story. How can this sentence be left to stand?–“With other nations already indicating that they will retaliate by imposing tariffs of their own on billions of dollars in American goods, advocates of protectionism must finally acknowledge that forcing a reduction in imports will inevitably cut exports, as well.”

We have lived through a month of everyone with a microphone beating down on the American public that protectionism is horrible and trade wars have only losers, and that these are the only things that explain the steel and aluminum tariffs. But like any one-sided agenda driven by an avalanche of news coverage, eventually people with open eyes will see what is real. What is real today being that the world is lining up to meet with the United States to negotiate fair trade. The NAFTA negotiations have a leverage point and a time line, fantastic for the party who earned them, in this case the United States. It looks like quotas will certainly allow supply chain logistics to be maintained, particularly on sensitive and valuable finished steel products. Zero trade wars. Heck, we are not even over 80 percent of capacity, the real goal of Section 232.

Chriss’ statement could easily be re-written: “Advocates of fair trade, who believe companies should compete on level playing fields, embrace that a balance between imports and exports will be earned.”

Domestic Steel Executive (who requested anonymity)

Tim Triplett

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