Word: steels
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Another bright spot is U.S. investment in steel plants abroad. In November 2000, USX-U.S. Steel purchased a financially troubled mill in the Slovak Republic and committed itself to a 10-year, $700 million capital-improvement plan. The Slovak company had squandered millions on dubious investments, including a travel agency, a soccer team and lavish holiday homes for executives. But the plant was relatively modern, with 100% continuous casting and three blast furnaces. U.S. Steel stamped out corrupt purchasing practices and shifted production to more profitable products. Result: while USX-U.S. Steel's American business recorded...
...prices 30% below the domestic Slovak price in the first seven months of last year. "What we see in Europe is caused by what is happening in the United States," John Goodish, USSK's chief, recently told a Slovak business weekly. "I think it's retaliation against U.S. Steel...
...sure, it's in the interest of the U.S. economy to maintain a healthy steel industry. And on a variable-cost basis (for raw materials, energy and so forth), integrated steelmakers could well be globally competitive. But a bailout for their legacy costs and years of poor planning, coupled with trade protection, would set a bad precedent, critics charge. While many countries subsidize their steelmakers, the trend in recent years is for trade barriers to fall. Should the U.S. spark a steel war, that trend could be at risk...
...high cost of protectionism can be seen not only among users of steel but also among consumers of sugar. Influenced by generous campaign contributions from U.S. sugar producers, the Federal Government supports domestic prices and slaps tariffs as high as 242% on most sugar imports. Mexico and other signatories of NAFTA will eventually be spared such tariffs, but the system in place today keeps domestic sugar prices at 22[cents] per lb.--about three times the global-market price...
When U.S. steelmakers raise the bogeyman of unfair foreign competition, one firm they have in mind is POSCO of South Korea, which last year passed Japan's Nippon Steel to become the world's top producer. Churning out 27.8 million tons of steel products, POSCO earned $620 million, with exports accounting for 25% of revenues. But does it owe its competitive edge to government handouts? Its ties to Seoul are certainly cozy, and its exports still face countervailing duties abroad, to offset subsidies it received years ago. But analysts say POSCO now operates independently and succeeds through smart management...