Kees,
 
Kv>WD> Importtaxes on steel and aluminium? In the end the American consumer
Kv>WD> is the one footing the bill because the cost is always passed down the
Kv>WD> line.
 
Kv> Why, isn't the US steel and aluminum industry going to jump in and
Kv> supply equal quality goods within a fortnight for the same price?
 
Yes, that is the whole idea, they will be able to supply at the same high
prices as before.
 
The reason why American steel is so expensive is because of their outdated
technology requiring a lot of manual labor. i.e. the job Trumps braggs about.
He creates jobs but the cost is just added to the price of the product, meaning
useless jobs.
 
At fault here mainly are the American unions (and the voting power represented
by their huge number of followers) who will try whatever to save jobs and as a
consequence will price themselves out of the market. Then Trump needs to
correct that by imposing import levies on the competition ... But you see it
doesn't work, production is already being shifted out of the USA at the time of
me writing this.
 
Also European and Korean steel factories use natural gas as energy, which is
easily transported by pipeline. The US steel factories are based on coal which
needs to be mined and transported like more than 1.000km away ... again useless
jobs which add to the cost and further environmental degradation due to open
strip-mining.
 
In the end the American consumer will be paying a lot for tens of thousands of
useless jobs, but the product stays the same. It is not a practice which you
find in a modern economy.
 
Kv> Airbus is thinking about leaving Brittain as well, but that is a
Kv> different story.
 
And that story alone shook the whole of Great Britain because suddenly they are
confronted with facts and numbers instead of political rethoric. The economic
drain, but especially the drain of jobs and knowhow, patenting, licensing is a
major blow to the UK economy.
 
But politicians will not acknowledge it, empty rethoric of the ruling party is
way more important ... hear, hear, ...
 
 \%/@rd

--- D'Bridge 3.99 SR28