Comments by "John Berry" (@user-ud6ui7zt3r) on "‘CRANK’ IT UP: O’Leary is all for Trump’s high tariffs on China" video.
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I had a long back ‘n’ forth text-based discussion with a gentleman who works for a USA-based steel distributorship. He clearly informed me that when imported Chinese steel has a tariff applied to it, then his USA-based steel distributorship, and ALL of the other USA-based steel distributorships, AUTOMATICALLY RAISE the price of their USA-produced raw steel TO MATCH whatever the “tariff added” price of imported Chinese steel turns out to be. In other words, when it comes to the price of Raw Steel, USA-based consumers of Raw Steel (i.e. steel fabrication businesses) will get stuck paying THE SAME PRiCE as the final price of imported tariffed Chinese steel. The result is that a massive number of USA-based steel fabrication businesses WILL GO out of business. On top of that, government construction contracts, at all levels of government, often specify that American steel must be used. The implication here is that, if Trump applies a tariff to imported Chinese steel, then, due to the automatic pricing practices of USA-based steel distributors, nearly all government funded major construction projects WILL END-UP PAYING a very high price for I-beams and corrugated steel.
[The USA-based steel distributor that I corresponded with referred to his industry’s pricing practices as conflation (i.e. the practice of treating American raw steel and Chinese raw steel as if they were essentially the same thing.) I personally refer to those who price their domestic commodities in this manner as conflationists. ]
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