, Columnist
The Dumb Way for Trump to Help Steelmakers
Tariffs or quotas would hurt most Americans. Wouldn't it be smarter to build things?
Think infrastructure.
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There are two ways the federal government could help the U.S. steel industry boost production: a smart way and a dumb way. Are you surprised to learn that the administration of President Donald Trump is barreling down the dumb route?
The smart way to improve conditions for American steelmakers is to generate work that requires lots of steel -- for example, a major government-funded infrastructure plan that creates incentives for using domestic building materials. When he was running for president, and during his early months in office, Trump vowed to push through an $1 trillion plan that would have done wonders for the steel industry and would have created, as the president promised, “millions of jobs.”