b'1.7 Steel Success Strategies conference in New York dominated by steel tariffs and protectionism fearsIf politics is indeed driving a wedge be- great time to make steel in America?said tween Americans today, then nowhere is thisthat demand for steel was projected to grow more visible than in the steel sector whichto over 1.7 billion metric tonnes by the end ismiredinaverbalbattlebetweentheof this year. Unemployment in the US is at steel-making and steel-consuming industriesits lowest since five yearsNucor posted Manik Mehta, AJOTThis article was originally published onon the issue of steel import tariffs under Sec- the highest earnings in its history in 2018. July 22, 2019 in issue #691 tion 232 of the Trade Act, whose impositionWe do not just sell steel to our customersfor reasons of national security is contestedwe sell them solutions! The US manufactur-by the opponents.ing sector earned its highest earnings since The US manufacturing sector earned its highest earnings since this centuryThe question of steel tariffs also dominat- this century, he exclaimed to the thunder-edthethree-daySteelSuccessStrategiesous applause from the packed auditorium. conference,the34thedition,heldinthe latter half of June in New York where repre- Bernhard Hoffmann, Vice President (Engi-sentatives of steel-supplying nations such asneering/Product Development) at US Steel China, Japan, Korea, India, Turkey, Germa- Corp., the largest integrated steel producer ny, etc., worried by growing American pro- in the US and the largest North American tectionism, had also descended. Commentstubular producer, with a 22 million tons an-[image 1.7] by some US steel executives at the confer- nual steelmaking capability, told the confer-(L to R) Ronald AshburnAssociationence suggested that the tariffs had indeedence delegates that OEMs would continue for Iron & Steel Technology, Bernhard HoffmanUS Steel Corp, Peter LeBlanc checked the inundating steel imports, be- to invest in autonomous and electric vehi-ArcelorMittal sides resulting in a sharp rise in domesticcleswhichconstituteasignificantsource production and sales, and a surge in prof- of steel consumption though the emphasis itability.will be on cost-effective lightweighting, as Hoffmann put it, for the vehicle structures Nucors CEO John Ferriola, making a dra- andimproveddrivemotorefficiency.US maticlandingonthestageviaavisualSteelcontinuestoinvestintechnologyto spacecrafttohammerdownthemessagehelp produce advanced high structural steels that Nucor was involved in making special(AHSS).spacecraftbodies(outofsteel,naturally!) since the summer of 1969. An elated Ferrio- Manyofthedelegates,representinga la - remember his past statement that its avariety of industries and services, privately 16 THE UNCONTAINED www.theuncontained.com'