PROTECTIONISM: As the unemployment rate in the US threatens to become a major issue in next year's elections, the president must decide what's important
NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE
Sunday, Sep 21, 2003,Page 11
With the loss of manufacturing jobs shaping up as a crucial election issue, President Bush received two midterm reports Friday night that will help him decide whether to continue tariffs he imposed to help the American steel industry or to bow to other industries opposed to them.
It will take trade and industry experts days to analyze the data, but the findings offered a counterpoint to growing complaints from small and medium-size American manufacturing companies that use steel. They say the tariffs, or safeguards, have raised their costs, cut their profits and forced them to delay expansion and lay off employees.
One report, however, concluded that many companies "had difficulty distinguishing between the effects of the safeguard measures and other changes in market conditions."
While overall employment of steel-consuming industries generally fell or remained flat in the year after the tariffs were imposed, compared with the two previous years, according to the report, "in many cases employment fell by a greater amount
in the year before the safeguard measures were implemented than in the first year after they were implemented." . . .
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2003/09/21/2003068711
on edit: oops, hit "post" accidentally before I'd copied all the paragraphs and provided the link
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