Rolled steel is seen after being treated on the pickle line at the Severstal steel mill in Dearborn, Michigan June 21, 2012. (Xinhua/REUTERS)
WASHINGTON, June 26 (Xinhua) -- It would further damage U.S. manufacturing if the Trump administration imposes new restrictions on steel imports, a U.S. trade expert has warned.
"Roughly 200 antidumping or countervailing duty measures already are in place on steel products, making steel one of the country's most protected sectors," said Dan Pearson, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and former chairman of the U.S. International Trade Commission.
As a result, U.S. prices for many steel products are significantly higher than world prices, "greatly disadvantaging American manufacturers that require steel as an input," Pearson wrote in an analysis recently published on the website of the pro-trade Cato Institute.
"Any additional import restrictions would do far more harm to steel-using manufacturers than any benefit that could accrue to steel mills," Pearson argued, noting that manufacturers that use steel as an input employ 6.5 million workers, 46 times more of employment in steel mills.
Steel mills account for only 0.2 percent of U.S. gross domestic product (GDP), while the economic value added by firms that use steel as an input was 1.04 trillion U.S. dollars, equaling 5.8 percent of U.S. GDP, according to Pearson.
Pearson's warning comes before the Trump administration is about to release its report on the national security implications of steel imports by the end of this month.
The Trump administration in April launched the so-called Section 232 investigations into imported steel products, a rarely-used trade tool to limit imports on the grounds of protecting national security.
"The Section 232 process may be intended to inflict pain on foreign nations by curtailing their exports. We can't be sure whether U.S. import restrictions will hurt other countries, but we can be certain that restrictions will hurt America," Pearson said, adding limiting steel imports "creates a genuine threat to economic growth and prosperity."
Pearson also warned that other countries likely would retaliate, targeting U.S. military equipment, farm and food products, if the Trump administration imposes additional import restrictions on steel.
"When a foreign power acts arbitrarily to curtail its imports, negatively affected exporting countries aren't amused. Since the United States is only a minor exporter of steel, retaliation likely would be focused on innocent, export-competitive sectors," he said.
