Nobody has really cared about Steel and its production since John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie transformed the entire industry around the year 1900. Unfortunately for us Millennials and Gen Z’ers prior generations of American’s decided to give up our top spot as the leading global steel producer. The past 30 years of economic globalization has stripped once great American Steel States like Pennsylvania, Indiana and Ohio of these high paying manufacturing jobs. For the most part this has been pretty terrible, relying on China, Russia and Iran for our building materials is not only bad business but also a major threat to National Security and will soon get even worse.
While the average person might not realize it steel is one of the most used building materials in modern history. Things that require steel are cars, electrical and cell phone towers, military equipment medical equipment, every home, building, bridge all require steel.
It tends to make people feel uneasy when they realize 60% OF ALL GLOBAL STEEL PRODUCTION COMES FROM CHINA, RUSSIA AND IRAN.
Relying on countries, that want the US and West to fail, for one of the most basic resources that keeps our energy, infrastructure, real estate and defense markets afloat is a real life nightmare.
The COVID-19 supply chain catastrophe and Russian Invasion of Ukraine shows that the US is ill-prepared to secure steel, one of our most basic resources in a time of emergency. COVID-19 has shown us that the US takes on major risk relying on China for anything. Pair this with the economic sanctions from Russia and its allies due to the invasion of Ukraine and the United States and its Allies only have access to around 20% of all global steel production.
People tend to forget that pulling materials out of the Earth and getting them into usable forms does not happen over night and unfortunately it seems like when we realize how ill-prepared our steel industry is, it will be to late.
This squeeze on basic materials adds to the mounting pressure of USD inflation that has been hitting Americans hard for the past 18 months. While the situation seems bleak there is always a silver lining. There are still great American Steel manufacturing companies that American relies upon. These companies like U.S. Steel and Nucor need to be protected at all cost as their security is directly linked to the security of our country and allies.
Leave A Comment