The US investigation into steel imports is not particularly novel. The US steel industry is highly organized for such purposes. The steel sector has the significant global excess capacity, which makes for intense competition.

What is relatively new about the investigation is that it is being conducted Section 232 of the  1962 Trade Expansion Act, claiming that the steel imports are a threat to national security. It has only been used 14 times in its 55-year history.  It has not been used since 2001 when George W Bush launched a year-long investigation into iron ore and steel, and ultimately took no action under Section 232.  When the announcement of the investigation was made, the President was not surrounded by generals, but by industry CEOs.

The threat to national security seems a stretch.  The Pentagon has not sought to restrain imports, and its steel needs are met by domestic producers. The US is the fourth largest crude steel producer in the world behind China, Japan, and India.  It produced nearly 80 mln metric tons in 2015, down from 88 mln tons in 2014.  In the first 12 weeks of the year, the US produced an average of about  1.75 metric tons a week, roughly a 5.3% gain from the same year ago period.  It was utilizing about 73.3% of its capacity.

It is interesting to note that as domestic output was rose, imports also increased. The Department of Commerce estimates that carbon steel imports (including semi-finished products) were up around 18% year-over-year though they had fallen by a little more than 4.5% in March.  In 2014, the US exported 11 mln metric tons of steel and imported 39 mln metric tons.  Imports account for almost one-sixth of US consumption. The value of the iron and steel produced in 2014 was estimated at $113 bln  

The Department of Labor estimates that the steel industry directly employs about 145k workers in the United States.  At it peak in 1953, 650k workers were directly employed by the steel industry. What happened to 80% of the jobs in the steel industry? According to the industry association, labor productivity has increased five-fold since the early 1980s. Then it took a little more than 10 hours to produce a finished ton of steel.  By 2014, this had fallen to 1.9 hours. Now that is productivity.  

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