I sure hope so!
Lots of news out of the steel industry these days, not all of it good.
Some of it is, though. This was good news. This was very good. This too. And then, the Wall Street Journal reported a couple days ago: An Australian steelmaker is planning to spend roughly $700 million to expand its U.S. business – a steel mill in Delta, Ohio.
From the story:
U.S. steel prices have fallen about a third since approaching a decade-high last summer, but BlueScope and other steelmakers are looking beyond the current weakness in commodity markets. Slowing global growth is deepening confidence among steel executives that the U.S. and other countries will resort to infrastructure spending to give their economies a boost.
Man, that last part about infrastructure would be great.
Tariffs will get you only so far; if the Trump administration (and greater Washington) wants to help steelworkers and the millions of other Americans in manufacturing jobs, it should do what people have been calling for for years and pass an infrastructure bill of significant weight. Infrastructure (and government procurement with strong Buy America rules) is a lot more efficient than tax cuts at creating economic growth. The Congressional Budget Office – the nerds who for a living run the numbers on every congressional economic policy proposal you ever heard of – knew this all the way back in 2015 when they were looking at the provisions tied into the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act:
Well, we've already cut taxes. Tried that! And a recession is still looming.
And while I doubt the government will get around to an infrastructure bill before the next election, it’s interesting to note that "there is deepening confidence among steel executives that the U.S. and other countries will resort to infrastructure spending to give their economies a boost."