Trump’s infrastructure programme in jeopardy before it begins
And the commodity sector, essential to the building projects Trump promised, will bear the brunt
US President Donald Trump’s decision last week to disband the Strategy and Policy Forum, and his Manufacturing Council, not only puts his agenda to revitalise the nation’s infrastructure in jeopardy, it also weakens the precarious support commodities such as copper, steel and crude oil have relied upon. Although not stellar, global commodity prices had shown decent support since it became clear that Trump had a shot at the White House, with infrastructure at the top of his agenda. His promise to "rebuild our country with American workers, American iron, American aluminium, and American steel" while touting a Mexican border wall, became the crutch for a deeply wounded industry facing excess inventories alongside more efficient manufacturing and raw material applications. As recently as August 15 he issued an executive order directing federal agencies to more quickly review the environmental effects of infrastructure projects, a bid to speed up the construction of the roads, rails, br...
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