Ron Ashburn, executive director for the Association for Iron and Steel Technology (AIST) has expressed sympathy for European trade measures during its European Steel Forum and remarked that a re-industrialisation of the western world would take some de-globalisation.
“Even the best-run companies are under pressure if they are not helped by trade protection,” Ashburn said at the event in Udine, Italy, attended by Kallanish.
The USA have gone ahead with strong measures, “and other countries are following suit to defend their markets.”
This may also include re-nationalisation, as has been the case with British Steel.
This is a game of measures and countermeasures, which, Ashburn joked, “makes mainly the lawyers rich”. He compared the multitude of international issues with a Whack-a-Mole game: “You fight one problem, and another one pops up. You cannot win, you have to pull the plug.”
Panellist Antonio Marcegaglia, ceo and co-owner of Italy’s Marcegaglia group echoed similar sentiment.
But warned: “We should not create a too protective environment.” However, he added: “We cannot be the only open market. Trade measures need to be limited, but the most recent ones are fundamentally good… we need some protection, but we also need to be careful not to be isolated.”
Author: Christian Koehl Germany
