Trade Policy as Corporate Welfare : The Case of the U.S. Steel Industry

This paper begins with a discussion of what constitutes corporate welfare, then proceeds to apply the corporate welfare concept to the steel industry in the United States. A review is made of the various government supports that the steel industry has enjoyed since 1969. Studies have estimated that support to the steel industry has totaled between $90 and $151 billion. The paper concludes with a discussion of the 30 percent tariff that George Bush imposed on foreign steel producers and suggests that the steel industry should be taken off welfare and allowed to sink or swim on its own