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Trade, Steel, and Aluminum Globalist Shell Game

by Lewis Loflin

by Lewis Loflin


Big business got an almost 50% tax cut and repeal of punitive regulations saving them billions. They can pay working people a living wage and not abuse the Globalist shell game.

For the week ending March 9, 2018 we heard screams of a crash over steel and aluminum tariffs. What do we have at www.marketwatch.com March 9, 2018?

Dow closes above 25,000 while NASDAQ finishes at a record as stocks rally...The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJ IA, +1.77% surged 440.53 points, or 1.8%, to end at 25,335.74 for a weekly gain of 3.3%...The S&P 500 index SPX, +1.74% climbed 47.60 points, or 1.7%, to close at 2,786.57, ending the week 3.5% higher...The NASDAQ Composite Index COMP, +1.79% added 132.86 points, or 1.8%, to finish at 7,560.81, up 4.2% for the week...

To further quote www.marketwatch.com January 9, 2018:

Wage increases reported by highest number of companies in 18 years, survey finds...

Yes we can afford to protect American workers! Wages have risen 2.9% since January 2017. Now back to finding that mythical Trump-Russia collusion - it has to be somewhere...

To quote,

U.S. Department of Commerce Finds Dumping of Imports of Carbon and Alloy Steel Wire Rod from Belarus, Russia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE)...

www.commerce.gov November 21, 2017. That's another reason for tariffs.

The Trump hating Washington Post:

Foreign suppliers are flooding the U.S. aluminum market...In anticipation of the restrictions, there has been a similar import frenzy to kick off 2018. Aluminum shipments from the European Union to the United States are up 24 percent from the start of the year...

America imports 90 percent of primary aluminum that U.S. companies use to make products as diverse as beer cans and fighter jets...The United States has gone from having 23 operational aluminum smelters in 1993 to five now, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Only one of the remaining smelters — the Century Aluminum plant in Hawesville, Ky. — makes the high-purity aluminum needed for fighter jets, according to a Commerce Department report urging Trump to take action.

Ref. Washington Post

The fact is we have been flooded with a number of products for years. Let's take steel and Canada. Canada buys 50% of US steel exports they claim, it's a lie. We end up re-importing the steel right back with several times that in other steel. Reports claim Canada imports steel from 70 other countries. This is called trans-shipping and it needs to end, which is why NAFTA needs to end. I would exempt steel equal to American imports or proven made IN CANADA from tariffs, trans-shipped steel would be slammed.

America exports a lot of machinery and aircraft - if the metal goes into products for EXPORT then I'd drop the tariffs on that metal on the parts made here, not in Mexico. Mexico is typical for NAFTA abuse - we export virtually nothing to Mexico because the exports are made into finished products and re-imported. It is about cutting out American labor.

It's better to automate the process here and keep it here - not import low-paid third-world peasants then shift their social and welfare costs onto the public. One Arizona farmer that once openly hired illegal aliens automated. Automation good, importing poverty bad.

See Illegal Immigration Success in Arizona

Jobs Report Surprise

"The US economy gained a surprisingly strong 313,000 jobs in February. That was much stronger than economists expected and the best showing since July 2016. Unemployment stayed at 4.1%, the lowest in 17 years."

Businesses are now complaining wage growth the first time in decades is BAD for the economy. This will raise prices, etc. In other words once again flood the job market with more immigrants and illegal aliens. For decades they have demanded taxpayers train their workforce while refusing to hire them even if they have the training.

To quote a press release USA Today:

The Home Depot Foundation announced its plans to donate $50 million to train 20,000 tradespeople over the next 10 years, starting with military members and veterans. The program also includes training for at-risk teens and members of the Atlanta Westside community as the company strives to close the gap among skilled laborers in the nation...

Currently, there are 158,000 unfilled construction sector jobs in the U.S according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the statement cited. That number is expected to grow as tradespeople retire over the next 10 years.

About damn time corporate America starts trying to employ Americans and train them. That is what they used to do. Trump wins again! I'd give any company that can successfully train and hire AMERICANS NOT IMMIGRANTS a 200% tax credit as a reward.

Local Leaders Complain to Senator Kaine - Ignore Workers

US Steel to restart Illinois plant after Trump tariffs - Company will rehire 500 Union wage workers! This will create an additional 1000-2000 other jobs!

But what about Trump's tariffs?

Transnational globalism is a giant shell game where products are moved around to evade labor costs, taxes, and tariffs. China mass dumping of aluminum and steel along with trans-shipping leaves us little choice but to crack down.

Why do we "export" steel to Canada only to re-import several times as much right back? Canada imports steel from several countries then trans-ships that into the US.

Why does South Korea "import" steel (I'll bet from China) then exports steel to the US? Germany imports steel then exports steel to us at a lower price?

Why is this happening?

The U.S. is the world’s largest importer of steel, significantly ahead of Germany and South Korea, which are in the number two and three spots respectively. What’s more, the U.S. has over the last decade consistently imported more steel than it has exported. Currently, around four times as much steel flows into the country than out of it.

...the main countries filling the gap between demand and production are Canada, Brazil, South Korea, Mexico, and Russia. In terms of the countries whose steel exports to the U.S. are increasing rapidly, look to India, Russia, and Taiwan. And don't forget the EU, which is collectively a significant player here too.

...The biggest aluminum exporters to the U.S. are Canada, Russia, the United Arab Emirates, and China. (What's more, the Department of Commerce earlier this week accused major Chinese aluminum foil exporters of dumping their products in the U.S. market at prices with which local producers can’t fairly compete.) Again, Europe is also a significant player.

...Canada isn’t only the main exporter of steel to the U.S.—it also buys half of U.S. steel exports. And the Europeans could now whack big tariffs on things like Jack Daniels whiskey and Harley-Davidson motorcycles.

Ref. www.fortune.com

From WSJ 3/9/2016

US aluminum production down 10%, in 2015 China had 50% of world production up from 25% in 2005. By the end 2016 only 4 US smelters will be in operation down from 23 in 2000. Production will be 565,000 metric tons, down from 2.1 million in 2011 and 3.7 million in 2000. US imports of aluminum in 2015 up to 40% in 2016 up from 14% in 2010.

Energy use:
aluminum recycled - 4.75kwH
aluminum from ore - 95kwH

Chinese Aluminum Giant Is Tied to a $2 Billion Mystery Mexican Stockpile

by Scott Cendrowski @scendrowski September 9, 2016

Globalization run amok?

Six hundred workers lost their jobs earlier this year when Alcoa closed its aluminum smelter in Warrick County, Ind., which had cranked out the metal since 1960.

...low aluminum prices, down 20% last year amid a flood of supply from China. Chinese smelters supply half the world's aluminum and, as the lifeblood of many small towns, enjoy subsidized power and taxes from local governments. But that may not be the only advantage they have. Aluminum trade groups have long contended the Chinese companies engage in more underhanded moves to evade import restrictions and anti-dumping laws.

Now there appears to be a strong case for their accusations. A Chinese aluminum company stockpiled more than $2 billion worth of aluminum in Mexico with intentions of shipping it to the U.S. to avoid tariffs on Chinese exports, according to a Wall Street Journal report on the scheme. Records linked China Zhongwang Holdings with the stockpile, much of which has since been moved to Vietnam following a U.S. trade group's petition to the Commerce Department, the WSJ said.

The account reads like a case of globalization gone amuck. Chinese smelters, hurt by China's slowing infrastructure buildout, have turned to India, the U.S., and elsewhere for market share, thanks in no small part to government support. An oversupply of Chinese steel in global markets has gotten recent attention, but Chinese aluminum may be just as damaging...

Aluminum Can Price Formula

"Now, there is a mathematical way to roughly determine around how much you are able to receive for your cans. With an average can weighing about 14-15 grams or .03 pounds, an average aluminum can is worth about 2.5 cents at 85 cents a pound."

I'll use the present price $0.95 per pound. (March 8, 2018) Trumps 10% tariff I'll argue raise the cost of aluminum to $1.045.

A pound of aluminum produces 33.3 cans. So $0.95 / 33.3 = 2.55 cents per can.

Let's change to $1.045 per pound; $1.045 / 33.3 = 3.1 cents per can.

Price difference $0.0055 or 0.55 cents per can.

Ref. www.wealthartisan.com.


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