US will pay a high price for Trump’s faulty import tariffs
History shows that trade wars end up affecting all protagonists in a negative way
President Donald Trump’s comment that "when a country [the US] is losing many billions of dollars on trade with virtually every country it does business with, trade wars are good, and easy to win" is wishful thinking. History shows that trade wars end up having a negative effect on all protagonists. The US is the world’s largest importer of steel — more than 35-million metric tonnes in 2017 — for use in a wide variety of industries including construction, vehicles, white goods, packaging and general manufacturing. The largest import partners of the US for steel are Canada (17%), Brazil (13%), South Korea (10%), Mexico (9%) and Russia (8%). China accounted for just 2.9% of the imports in 2017. The US is also a large consumer of aluminium, importing more than 5.7-million metric tonnes during the first 10 months of 2017. Imports account for about 90% of the total aluminium consumed in the US. Aluminium is a key material used in the aerospace, defence, vehicles, electrical wiring and fo...
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