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Although Reagan's steel-import restriction plan does not involve direct Government expenditures, it will be costly: consumers will pay billions more for everything from automobiles to canned goods. Moreover, it may be a significant Administration nod toward protectionist trade policy (see ECONOMY & BUSINESS...
...Imported steel has now captured at least a quarter of the U.S. market. Steel companies and the United Steelworkers have lobbied for import restrictions...
Throughout his term, Reagan has let plainly political considerations influence policy. He violated free-trade principles as early as 1981, when he negotiated auto import limits with the Japanese. He supports tuition tax credits for parents of private school students (estimated five-year cost: $3 billion), an idea that appeals to Roman Catholic voters. Reagan came into office promising wholesale deregulation of business, yet his Administration has dawdled where the heavily regulated trucking industry is concerned. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the only major labor union to back Reagan, is strongly opposed to trucking deregulation...
...benefit costs of a Japanese autoworker total only about $12. By contrast, the U.S. hourly cost is $23. U.S. automakers have chosen two main solutions to meet the Japanese challenge: construction abroad and automation at home. By 1990 GM expects to be building 500,000 small cars overseas for import to the U.S. Ford is constructing a plant in Mexico with Japan's Mazda, and both Ford and Chrysler are holding talks with Korean manufacturers about building more cars there. A confidential GM study, obtained by the union earlier this year, showed that the company could cut its work...
Battered by cheap imports from Chile, Peru and Zaire, U.S. copper mining has been tarnished in the past few years. The twelve major producers now employ a mere 25,000 workers, down 50% in ten years, and the mines, primarily in the Rocky Mountain states, are running at 60% of capacity. Copper consumption is up 14% this year from last, but American mines simply cannot match competitors in the Third World. They have kept output high and prices down to around 60? per lb., vs. the 82? average cost of U.S. production. Despite those troubles, the Reagan Administration last week...