Issues Raised by Restructuring of the Steel Industry in Northeast Asia

Since the early 1990s, Northeast Asia's steel industry has undergone a remarkable restructuring process. Notably, the region's steel industry lost over 1 million jobs, or over one-quarter of the total, in the 1990s. The policy environment has changed dramatically with governments relying more on market mechanisms. Mergers and strategic alliances among the region's largest steel makers have proliferated. We find that the impact of renewed U.S. protectionism has been minimal largely because the vast majority of Northeast Asia's steel exports are shipped to other Asian countries