As exemplified in the video posted by Saving Grace (see partial transcript below), Lourenco is excited by the possibility that the President will use Section 232 to impose tariffs or quotas on imported steel. The hope is that such tariffs/quotas will move US steel capacity utilization to the mid-80% range.
However, I suspect that if Section 232 is aggressively used, there will be some unintended consequences. These have been spelled out in several recent reports. See for example quotes from steelorbis.com below.
Notably, the major impact will be on what I consider to be friendly nations (Canada, Japan, Europe, etc).
If the tariffs/quotas are meaningful they will probably precipitate retaliation… probably against agricultural goods.
And, as steel prices go up, the cost of consumer goods using steel also go up.
Given these possible outcomes, I’m not so sure that Trump will implement Section 232 as aggressively as the steel industry hopes. And, if he does, I would avoid the US agricultural stocks until the threat of a trade war plays out.
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Quotes from the steelorbis blog of 6/27/2017
==== Quotes from the Bloomberg interview posted by Saving Grace (#msg-132579425):