Media clips
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Thea M. Lee, a trade economist and the president of the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal think tank, said the tariffs could actually help global markets. They would punish countries that overproduce steel and aluminum, she said, and bring stability and certainty to producers of those metals in the United States. “It’s not actually in anybody’s interest to spiral downward and get into a massive retaliatory situation,” Ms. Lee said. “I think there will be some immediate reactions, but I don’t think it will spiral out of control.”
The New York Times March 5, 2018 -
Josh op-ed.
The New York Times March 5, 2018 -
The specter of a trade war undercuts Trump’s economic argument. The president has promised that steel and aluminum tariffs will bolster domestic industries and boost American payrolls, with some labor leaders and business executives in agreement. “U.S. steel and aluminum industries have been heavily injured by massive growth of excess capacity and overproduction in China and other countries,” argues Robert E. Scott of the Economic Policy Institute, a left-of-center think tank. “More than 13,000 U.S. jobs have been lost in aluminum since 2000—and 14,000 steel jobs disappeared in [the] last two years alone.” But America’s steel and aluminum industries simply do not employ that many workers. Restoring all those jobs would be but a blip in a monthly payroll report.
The Atlantic March 5, 2018 -
Mr. Trump’s announcement today drew positive responses too, including from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. It previously called trade remedies for steel and aluminum long overdue. “Now that the tariffs have been announced, the United States should work with other nations to develop coordinated responses to unfair trade in these products,” EPI senior economist Robert Scott said on the group’s website. “This announcement should mark the beginning, rather than the end, of efforts to develop coordinated global responses to the problems of excess capacity in steel and aluminum trade.”
CBS News March 5, 2018 -
On the other hand, there is a rational basis for worrying about the state of America’s steel industry. Steel production remains a significant source of employment in the United States, and one that serves a national-security function: Relying on cheap metal from China is all well and good while the U.S. is still the dominant superpower, and Washington and Beijing are at peace; but it would be nice to keep some industrial capacity on the shelf, just in case those conditions change. If you want a quick outline of the case for Trump’s tariffs, here’s an excerpt from a report the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute released in January: (features several bullet points)
New York Magazine March 5, 2018 -
Robert Scott, senior economist at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, said tariffs that failed to distinguish between America’s trade allies and countries like China, which the U.S. has accused of illegal trade practices, could make it more difficult resolve trade disputes. “The best of options is higher tariffs on steel from unfair traders and quotas on everyone else,” Scott said. “The advantage to that approach is it would allows us to work with other countries to impose similar tariffs on these unfair traders.”
NBC News March 5, 2018 -
Trump’s tariff announcement drew qualified praise from some on the Left. Robert E. Scott, director of trade and manufacturing policy research at the union-backed Economic Policy Institute, urged the Trump administration to coordinate with other countries to counter unfair trade in aluminum and steel. “Trade remedies for steel and aluminum were long overdue. Trump promised quick action after announcing investigations of the national security threats imposed by steel and aluminum imports nearly a year ago,” he said in a statement. “Delays worsened the import crisis for thousands of U.S. steel and aluminum workers, many of whom are facing layoffs and plant closing announcements.”
Lifezette March 5, 2018 -
The Economic Policy Institute, which released its own study on the 50th anniversary of Kerner Commission’s findings, reports that in 2017 black unemployment was higher than it was in 1968, and it remained around twice the rate of white unemployment. The rate of incarcerated individuals who are black also tripled since the 1968 report came out. And the wealth gap has also increased. Today, the median white family has 10 times the wealth of the median black family.
Smithsonian Magazine March 5, 2018 -
Business recap: Week of Feb. 26
The Washington Post
Fifty years after the historic Kerner Commission identified “white racism” as the key cause of “pervasive discrimination in employment, education and housing,” there has been no progress in how African Americans fare in comparison to whites when it comes to homeownership, unemployment and incarceration, according to the Economic Policy Institute. In some cases, African Americans are worse off today than before the civil rights movement culminated in laws barring housing and voter discrimination, as well as racial segregation.
The Washington Post March 5, 2018 -
A look at black America, fifty years after the Kerner Commission The nation was in remarkable racial turmoil in 1968. After riots roiled Newark, the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, or the Kerner Commission, prepared a landmark report for President Lyndon B. Johnson, to better understand the continuing struggle of African American communities. They named “white racism” as the root cause of the discrimination leading to unemployment, under-education and inadequate housing for black citizens. This update reveals a very mixed picture of black progress. The good news: black people are better educated now, with 90% of younger Americans graduating high school compared to half in 1968. “With respect to homeownership, unemployment, and incarceration, America has failed to deliver any progress for African Americans over the last five decades,” they find. Click through for the numbers. Read more about the astonishingly candid Kerner report here.
Fortune March 5, 2018