Reason #5899 That Trump Was Elected

Some Steel and Aluminum Makers to Restart Plant Operations Amid Tariff Plans

Some U.S. steel and aluminum makers are restarting idle mills and boosting capacity to make up for imports that face being priced out of the market if President Donald Trump’s proposed import tariffs take hold.

United States Steel Corp. on Wednesday said it would fire up a blast furnace in Granite City, Ill., and call back 500 workers. Century Aluminum Co. said last week it will restart lines at a smelter in Kentucky that have been curtailed since 2015, doubling its workforce there to 600.

“Our Granite City Works facility and employees…have suffered too long from the unending waves of unfairly traded steel products that have flooded U.S. markets,” U.S. Steel Chief Executive David Burritt said. The company had idled the furnaces and laid off hundreds of workers in 2015 as a flood of cheap imports pushed down domestic prices.

U.S. Steel shares rose 2.6% Wednesday to $45.69, making for a 28% increase in the past 12 months.

I'm generally free trade, but America needs to retain the ability to make it's own strategic metals. Either that, or plan on conquering Canada the next time we go to war seriously.