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Steel

Blocked Nippon Deal Is Lesson On Tariffs: Workers Need A Say

February 19, 2025 Jenny Brown, Labor Notes. , , ,
The business press howled in January when outgoing President Joe Biden blocked Japanese steel giant Nippon from buying U.S. Steel. The Steelworkers (USW) had strongly opposed the deal. But Nippon’s promises to invest, and U.S. Steel’s threats to close plants, led some members and local union officials to support it. As a result, the press portrayed the disagreement as “union bosses” versus the rank and file. In fact, most workers were skeptical and the union had good reasons to oppose the takeover. The Trump administration has imposed 25 percent tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, to start March 4.

Trump Escalates Trade War With 25% Tariffs On Steel And Aluminum

February 15, 2025 Masao Suzuki, Fight Back! News. , , , , ,
San José, CA – On Monday, February 10, President Trump signed an executive order raising tariffs, or taxes on imports, to 25% on steel and aluminum. The tariffs are to start on March 4. While his first round of tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China was based on a “national emergency” of refugees and drugs coming into the country, the latest tariff order used a “national security” rationale. They are seen as less likely to be suspended as the first round was. Trump says that these tariffs will create jobs and expand manufacturing, but in fact they raise prices and cause overall job losses in manufacturing.

Indian Workers Defend Their Steel With Their Lives

August 26, 2022 Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. , , ,
The virus of deindustrialisation that beset North America and Europe in the 1970s created a field of scholarly literature on post-work and post-industrial society. These writings led to the curious assumption that the digital economy would be the primary motor of capital accumulation; there was marginal interest in the fact that even the digital economy needed infrastructure, including satellites and undersea cables as well as plants to generate electricity and gadgets to link to the digital highways. This digital economy is grounded in a range of metals and minerals – from copper to lithium. Old steel, tempered in large factories, however, continues to be the foundation of our society. This steel – a thousand times stronger than iron – is as ubiquitous in our world as plastic.