Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Fresh Tariffs on China Steel


Anti-dumping tax against the world's premier USD zombie nation:





11 comments:

Peter Pan said...

Why aren't there tariffs on Canadian bitumen?

Ryan Harris said...

A complicated metallurgical process has been invented to turn Chinese steel into Thai, Mexican and Malaysian steel. (Removing the origin label and putting a new one on) It may render these tariffs more ineffective than the last round.

Matt Franko said...

Looks like there is available substitution for that Bob...

The end result is gasoline ...

If you read that article from yesterday, it was reported they are moving product from the gulf up into the the midwest great lakes region refineries... with the fires disrupting Canadian supply....

btw looks like the fire situation got WORSE yesterday with even MORE evacuations:

http://www.wsj.com/articles/oil-falls-back-from-2016-highs-1463481396

CAD taking a hit today again... either speculation on "fire!" or perhaps the fires are affecting some other ex/im goods in USD terms favor... gotta get those fires out and should go back to mid 1.20s imo...

Matt Franko said...

Right Ryan who knows where it ends up...

The Asian nations dont care as long as they get their USDs what a disgrace....

Ryan Harris said...

Innovation. Can't stop it. =)

MRW said...

Why aren't there tariffs on Canadian bitumen?

Because it’s been supplying over 22-25% of US energy needs for 40 years, and the companies developing (in Alberta) and shipping it to the USA from Alberta are US-owned.

The dirtiest oil on the North American continent comes from California.
http://ipolitics.ca/2014/07/18/how-clean-is-our-dirty-oil-youd-be-surprised/

Researchers for California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard have recently released new data measuring the carbon intensity of various crude oil blends, including diluted bitumen (a.k.a. ‘dilbit’) and upgraded synthetic crude oil (‘SCO’) from the Canadian oilsands. The Californian findings will not be well-received by anti-oilsands activists.

Among the findings that may surprise:

• There are 13 oil fields in California, plus crude oil blends originating in at least six other countries, that generate a higher level of upstream greenhouse gas emissions than Canadian dilbit blends;

• Crude oil from Alaska’s North Slope, which makes up about 12 per cent of California’s total crude slate, is actually “dirtier” than the Canadian dilbit known as “Access Western Blend”;

• The “dirtiest oil in North America” is not produced in Canada, but just outside Los Angeles, where the Placerita oil field generates about twice the level of upstream emissions as Canadian oilsands production; and

• The title of “world’s dirtiest oil” goes to Brass crude blend from Nigeria, where the uncontrolled release of methane during the oil extraction process generates upstream GHG emissions that are over four times higher than Canadian dilbit.

Matt Franko said...

MRW wait you mean its not "oil is oil!" ????

Like "money is money!" ????

Tom Hickey said...

Innovation. Can't stop it. =)

Capitalism. It's based on competition, you know.

Ryan Harris said...

I think it's funny that the Chinese are ostensibly looking to the private sector for innovation. They've become the dominant force in science not by private sector but by government spending. The government has to goad the private sector to use their innovations, similar to the US, where they subsidize risk taking and practically give away technology to firms.

Tom Hickey said...

Government must create the conditions for innovation. Firs the general contexts in terms of culture, institutions and infrastructure. Then, government specifically culture education, R&D, finance, etc.

Innovation would be impossible in a modern economy without massive government involvement and even direct support. Moreover, much innovation is a spinoff of government R &D and funding, especially wrt national security in a tech-dominant environment.

The assumption that the private sector is the basis for innovation is just wrong.

Peter Pan said...

Thanks MRW, that was an eye-opener :)