The tariffs encouraged American steel companies to increase investment beyond simply increasing capacity. The steelmakers argue they needed to make the investment to be competitive for the future. “We’re among the lowest-cost producers. We’re extremely competitive if we’re operating on a level playing field. But there is massive overcapacity of steel from China…and it’s heavily subsidized by the government,” said Kevin Dempsey, senior vice president of public policy for the AISI. “If we lifted the all the tariffs, I think we’d see another flood of imports.

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