b'10American Journal of Transportation ajot.com(BOOSTcontinued from page 9) Top Steel Exporters Top Importers of Steelmarketof15.2%thisyear,Rank Nation MMT Rank Nation MMTsayingproposedgovern- 1 China51.4 1 China 37.9ment stimulus will aid recov- 2 Russia 31.5 2 *European Union (28) 32.6ery in 2021 and 2022. IntheUnitedKingdom,3 Japan 29.8 3 United States 19.9theConstructionEquipment4 South Korea 27.6 4 Germany 18.2Association(CEA)reported5 *European Union (28) 22.6 5 Italy 15.5thatfirst-quartersaleswere6 *Germany21.2 6 Vietnam 13.6upby2.9%overpre-pan- 7 Turkey 18.5 7 Turkey 12.5demic levels, but, not surpris-ingly,muchlowerthanthe8 India 17.1 8 France 11.830% increase seen over 2020.9 Ukraine 15.2 9 South Korea 11.5Year-over-yearresults,since10 *Italy14.9 10 Poland 10.8they reflect growth over the11 *Belgium 12.9 11 Belgium 10.4bottom of the COVID reces- 12 Brazil10.6 12 Indonesia 9.3sion, are less instructive than thosethatcomparecurrent13 *France 10.2 13 Spain 8.7data to 2019. 14 Taiwan, China 10 14 Saudi Arabia 8.6T hed ileMMAS TeelT AriffS 15 Malaysia 8.4 15 Netherlands 7.8Another factor which will16 *Netherlands 8.3 16 Taiwan, China 7.3impact steel demand and prices17 *Spain7.9 17 Canada 6.8is whether the United States and18 Vietnam 7 18 Philippines 6.6the European Union can agree19 Canada 6.9 19 Czechia 6.4to lift the steel tariffs imposed20 United States 6.3 20 Malaysia 5.8bytheTrumpadministration. President Biden has displayedSource:World Steel Source: World Steelan appetite for repealing many Data for EU (28) excludes intra-regional trade. Data for individual nations Data for EU (28) excludes intra-regional trade. Data for individual nations Trump-erameasures,butnotincludes intra-regional trade. includes intra-regional trade.when it comes to tariffs. He facesapoliticaldilemma because he wants to ease ten-sionswithEuropeanalliesLIBERTY GLOBAL LOGISTICS llcandfacespressurefrom domestic industries that rely on steel to lift the tariffs, but also faces opposing interests, suchasthedomesticsteelSIMPLIFYING YOUR OCEAN TRANSPORTATIONindustry and its workers.Seven steel trade groups andunionsrecentlysent Bidenaletterurginghim tokeepthetariffsinplace. The tariffs were necessitated byrepeatedsurgesinsteel imports driven by global steel overcapacitythatthreatened ourindustryandthenearly two-million jobs it supports, they wrote. The tariffs, they asserted,havebeenasuc-cess, allowing our industry to restart idled mills, rehire laid-off workers and invest in the future. Removal of the tar-iffs may not serve Biden and hisDemocraticcohortswell insteelmakingstrongholds likePennsylvaniaandOhio duringthe2022midterm elections and beyond.If Bidens spending pack-ages will increase demand for steel, it could also send costs higher.Pricesurgescould also be exacerbated by a con-tinuationofthetariffs.One J.P. Morgan report noted that decades of lowering trade bar-riershashadadeflationary effect on the global economy, pointing particularly to manu-facturinginputsthatinclude steel.Itsdifficulttoavoid the conclusion that de-global-izationwillbeinflationary, the report concluded.But other experts disagree that tariffs, although they can drive up some prices, contrib-utetowidespreadinflation. Tariffstendtoincreasethe value of the dollar, they note,CONTACT US AT:Ports of call - Beaumont, Freeport, Jacksonville, Baltimore, and that contributes to lowerPhone: 516-488-8800 Wilmington, Livorno, Beirut, Aqaba, Jeddah, Jebel Ali, Abu import prices. Website: www.LibertyGL.com Dhabi, Hamad Kuwait, Dammam, KarachiThe U.S. and the EU haveFor Rate Quotes: [email protected] Transshipment - Mersin, Alexandria, Bahrain, Mumbai,(BOOSTcontinued on page 14) For Bookings: [email protected] Abu Dhabi, Doha, Sohar'