How Imports Helped the American Steel Industry
Article

How Imports Helped the American Steel Industry

Dany Bahar
Brookings Institution, 2018
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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Analytical
  • Eye Opening
  • Overview

Recommendation

At one time, the United States produced all the iron ore for its steel production domestically. Then, in the early 1980s, foreign competition entered the US market and forced American producers to achieve greater productivity. In this eye-opening article, researcher Dany Bahar draws on this historical experience to explain how free trade – not trade barriers – supports the US steel industry. getAbstract recommends this succinct analysis to executives and trade experts for its cogent treatment of a relevant topic that has large-scale repercussions on the global economy.

Summary

High shipping costs insulated the US iron ore industry from foreign competition for almost 100 years. That landscape changed in the early 1980s, when Brazilian iron ore imports penetrated the American market due to cost reductions in transportation. Their entry caused the US iron ore business to restructure and become more productive through innovative mining techniques and improved technology, tools, processes and worker skills. Similarly, revived competition in the early 21st century would reinvigorate the American steel business. 

The ...

About the Author

Dany Bahar is a fellow at the Brookings Institution.

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