The trade/tariff issue - update

It's official. He scrapped the steel tariffs. I'd expect some industry backlash in the election. And I'm sure that was figured into the decision. There was a risk/benefit analysis that had to be made, and I'm guessing it not only weighed in the EU threat of sanctions, but which of the industries that would be affected - those on the steel processing end versus those on the manufacturing of products using steel - provides the most votes and/or campaign dollars. Not to mention that the Florida citrus industry stood to also be sanctioned. Remember Florida?

GEORGE BUSH’S decision last year to slap illegal tariffs on imported steel risked sparking a trade war with the European Union and other big steel traders, such as Brazil, South Korea and Japan. But Mr Bush seemed prepared to pick that fight in order, as he saw it, to save the American steel industry—an industry stuttering along with too many companies, operating on too small a scale, with too many pensions to pay. On Thursday December 4th, however, the president’s fight came to an end with the announcement that the tariffs were being dismantled, 16 months earlier than originally planned. But this was no defeat, you understand. On the contrary, Mr Bush has, in effect, declared victory and gone home.  article

Do what you do best.

...and hey, do what you want...you will anyway...