(Cartoon image is by Steve Sack in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.)
Donald Trump recently bragged to a rally of his supporters that his new tariffs have resulted in the opening of six new steel plants in the United States. There's a problem with his claim though -- it is not true. It is just another lie he feeds to his supporters (who seem ready to believe any claim he makes -- no matter how outrageous or untrue).
Here is the truth as reported by CBS News:
By President Donald Trump's telling, the nation's second-largest steel producer is embarking on a major expansion, with plans in the works to open six new facilities. That would be news to U.S. Steel, which points to a restart of a blast furnace in Granite City, Illinois, as its latest operational announcement.
Mr. Trump has referenced U.S. Steel at least twice in the last week or so, telling a roundtable with workers in Duluth, Minnesota, he'd received a call from the head of U.S. Steel, who relayed that the company would be, according to the president, "opening up six major facilities and expanding facilities that have never been expanded. They haven't been opened in many, many years."
The president doubled down on that notion six days later, saying Tuesday at the White House: "U.S. Steel just announced they're expanding or building six new facilities."
As a publicly traded company, U.S. Steel (X) is obliged to disclose materially significant information. To that end, the company has said it would restart two blast furnaces and steelmaking facilities at its Granite City Works integrated plant in Illinois, one in March and the second in October. U.S. Steel announced the first reopening in March, saying it would lead to 500 jobs, and the next in June, bringing on another 300 workers. The plant had been out of operation since 2015.
"We post all of our major operational announcements to our website and report them on earnings calls. Our most recent one pertained to our Granite City "A" blast furnace restart," emailed a U.S. Steel spokesperson, who declined to elaborate further.
One Wall Street analyst who tracks U.S. Steel and its industry did not mince words when asked about the presidential take. "There is no expansion," offered Charles Bradford of Bradford Research. In fact, he added of U.S. Steel's future: "it's likely to shrink.". . .
Manufacturers and end users make up a much larger portion of the economy. That means tariffs on raw materials, combined with retaliation from angry trading partners, may end up causing more harm than good. An estimate from consulting firm Trade Partnership forecast about 400,000 U.S. jobs lost versus 26,000 created as a result of the metal tariffs.
