, Columnist
Yellen’s Steel History Lesson Draws the Wrong Conclusion
No amount of protectionism can bring this sector back to its heyday. Now the argument is being used to push for more damaging barriers on clean technology.
More barriers on clean technology.
Photographer: Alyssa Pointer/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Bad economic ideas don’t die. Instead they just return a decade later to haunt another generation. That seems to be the situation with China’s steel industry.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen plans to cite the example of steel overcapacity during a trip to China this month as justification for what looks like a pending crackdown on imports of the country’s clean technology products.