Analysis
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
October 1, 2018
One more day in Chicago before I head back to my office in Florida. I have been attending the CRU North American Steel Conference.
CRU Principal Economist Lisa Morrison spoke about President Trump doing what he promised he would do on the campaign trail. “If he said he is going to do X, then we have to assume he is going to do X.” She went on to say, “The narrative doesn’t change until the person changes.”
I was speaking with an attorney who represents the domestic steel mills and we talked about the sanctions against China. He told me that there is a parallel between Reagan and Russia when the U.S. basically chose to outspend Russia on weapon systems. He then said what the U.S. is doing now is betting we can outlast China when it comes to how large a deficit each country can tolerate. He told me China can print money without oversight. The U.S. deficit is now $1 trillion per year. He did not know who will blink first. But, as Ms. Morrison noted above, “The narrative doesn’t change until the person changes.”
In my opinion, President Trump is right, previous administrations did not confront the Chinese and their theft of technology and trade secrets. Changing the stripes on the zebra is going to be difficult.
We are close to being sold out for our Dec. 11 & 12 Steel 101 workshop. We have approximately 5-6 seats left. The workshop will be held in Toledo, Ohio, and we will tour the North Star BlueScope steel mill. If you want to know more about the workshop, please go to www.SteelMarketUpdate.com/events/steel101. If you have any questions, please contact us at info@SteelMarketUpdate.com
As always, your business is truly appreciated by all of us at Steel Market Update.
John Packard, President & CEO
John Packard
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