Tariffs (That Biden Won’t Remove) Threaten the U.S. Manufacturing Recovery (That Biden Wants) SHARE
Bloomberg reports that American steelmakers are imperiling President Biden’s goal of boosting the U.S. manufacturing sector and might, in fact, cause
more industrial offshoring:
Producers that shut furnaces in response to falling demand during the early stages of the coronavirus are still operating plants at well below pre‐pandemic levels, even as recovering economies and tight supplies drive prices higher. The benchmark price for American steel is at an all‐time high.
Companies including Cleveland‐Cliffs Inc. and U.S. Steel Corp. have kept blast furnaces idled on expectations that prices are likely to recede at some point, which would squeeze margins and potentially force expensive shutdowns again at those furnaces. While that tack bodes well for steelmaker profits, customers in industries from automobiles to appliances to machinery say they can’t get