Quote … To allow foreign imports to go unchecked is to allow the United States’ steel industry to wither away. This impairs our national security.

Stand tough on trade: It’s a start to give support to U.S. manufacturing

Editorial

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

June 25, 2018

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Reorienting America’s economy to stop letting cheap foreign-made products drive American manufacturers out of business, and workers into low-wage occupations, is going to take some time.

[Secretary of Commerce Wilbur] Ross spoke the truth: The actions taken by the president are necessary to revive America’s essential steel and aluminum industries. Moreover, to allow foreign imports to go unchecked is to allow the United States’ steel industry to wither away. This impairs our national security.

Imagine the U.S. having to retool for war and then trying to get steel from China for that war.

Mr. Trump campaigned to revive American heavy industry, and he won key manufacturing states including Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin and Michigan as a result. His tariffs of 25 percent on imported steel and 10 percent on imported aluminum, even against key U.S. allies Canada and the European Union, are only a starting point for a long-term policy. But they are a good starting point.

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Mr. Trump is forcing a re-examination of America’s trade policies, and making other countries consider the consequences of the trade war they have long waged upon us. The goal is nothing less than the restart of U.S. industry and the reclamation of American jobs.

Read the full editorial here.