I do not think 1 cent has been paid in new tariffs by the U.S. or China...since Trump floated the idea. Considering that Trump tends to reverse himself...there was news this AM that he is considering no tariffs being imposed. I suspect he is, once again, being educated on a problem he creates, in this case a potential Trade War. The fears and elation have no basis. IF I was a miner I would find out precisely why my industry in Minnesota is not competitive...
1
It simple. For Trump and the Republicans, US stands for Uncle Strong. For the Democrats, US stands for Uncle Sucker. Take your pick.
1
I believe standing up for the Steel industry is good. I respect the Leaders of the United Steel Workers. I stand with All Union Workers. The United States can not have a policy that looks out for one industry and throws another under the bus.
Being a real leader means being able to see the whole picture. Saving some jobs in one industry while putting many, many more at risk in other industries is not true leadership.
5
what is becoming clear to a lot of people is the democrats cant be the party of the tech elite and the party for the working people. The 2 are at odds and will always be. What is good for Apple to make cheap phones and high profits is bad for the workers here who supply labor and materials. It goes for all big business, which is now almost exclusively favoring Democrats (industrial markets excluded). The left has played both sides of that fence for years, but the fact is big government that the left panders for, results in big business which is a detriment for the little guy.. They try to fix this delima by legislating equality for the masses in a system they have rigged for the wealthy.
2
I grew up on the Range during a time when ore was washed and sent east on ore boats. Mines shut down during part of the winter months. Times would get difficult during those months. Taconite came along thanks in part to Hubert Humphrey, and some jobs were lost to it, but work went on during the winter. During all those years, minors remained Democrats for the most part. Those who didn't pretty much stayed under the radar. What's happened to the Range now? Trump comes along and spews his drivel and hate and some of the Rangers climb all over him with their zeal to make the Range great
again. Have these same Rangers not read the history of the Range? Do they think the soy bean and pig farmers in southern MN are on the band wagon with them? Wake up, Rangers, you're better than this. Trump cares not one whit about you. He only cares whether he gets a standing ovation from his base.
I will return to Northern MN this summer as I often do - but never in the winter- and wonder who among the residents has turned his or her back on history and drank the Kool-Aid of an empty suit.
7
Several postings here referencing Obama cracking down on steel dumping in the final months of his regime. Well, why did he wait? Everything the thin man did was a political calculation and nothing more. Obama's EPA posed regulations that no industry could comply with and remain viable. Trump is reversing these as fast as possible. That along with tax cuts is spurring the economy.
1
He waited because of opposition from republicans & business interests. The EPA regs are both reasonable & doable despite hysteria to the contrary. Finally economies don’t move fast enough to give Trump credit for much. It took many years to overcome the last GOP inspired depression & presidents (even ones we like) don’t have as much control as is implied.
10
Unfortunately, this region represents the raw material side of steelmaking, an element that has shrunk with the increase in recycling. Today, the biggest US steel company is one that re-melts scrap steel. They start with already-made steel, re-melt it and re-process it. In other words, the dirty, polluting part of steelmaking that involves converting raw ore has already been done long ago. As long as recycling remains high, this part of the business will likely never come back to what it once was.
3
So the ability to produce new steel is not in our national interest ?
We still have some new steel production here in America, it just no longer represents the lion's share. The bulk of the 'dirty side' has gone to other countries who don't mind poisoning their environments or their people, countries who then turn around and dump their steel slabs here at cut rate prices. Yes, jobs have vanished in these small towns that sit upon the raw ore. But new jobs and new industries have been created in cutting up, hauling, sorting, and processing scrap materials. It's an industry that barely existed in steel boom times. I'm waiting to see who gains more from the tarrifs, will it be the snowy tundra residents sitting on top of the raw ore, or will it be the 'new age' corporate scrap melters who can now charge more for re-melted products that consume less energy and cost less to make and who can simply pocket more revenue because of the tarriffs. In other words, will the benefits 'trickle down' or remain concentrated at the corporate top?
Worth noting that Sherrod Brown, Democrat from Ohio, supports the tarriffs. It is not just delusional mine workers or Republicans who think this might be a good thing.
And if Democrats decide that people who benefit from the tarriffs are the new deplorables, we can kiss 2020 goodbye.
3
Incumbents in any economic situation, even bad ones, will be disrupted by any change. When the Spanish flu came to an end, funeral directors, casket makers and gravediggers saw their fortunes sink. Optimizing for the short run usually involves no major changes.
3
I don't get it. Using official figures, imported steel from China accounts for about 3.3% (by dollar value) of imported foreign steel. Canada and Mexico together account for about 26% and they are exempt from these new tariffs. The EU is the next largest at about 22%. Then; about 56% or more of our imported Aluminum comes from Canada, with China, Russia and the United Arab Emirates far behind with percentages between about 6% and 8% each. Why is China getting the brunt of the abuse in the administration's narrative. The facts don't appear even close to squaring with official propaganda. What am I missing? It's not about steel and aluminum imports; it's smoke and mirrors.
15
DSTobin, steel from China is substandard. All products from China are substandard. Bring back Made in America.
1
Electing a Republican who sees our state's mines, like Trump, as a 3rd-world commodity to be exploited and abandoned, would be an economic and environmental catastrophe for Minnesota. In the face of future trade policies, environmental laws, and ore markets, the mining industry will abandon workers before everything else. And if you think this will stop with the Iron Range, only look east to the spectacular Boundary Waters where foreign, yes foreign mining operators have their claws out to ravage that irreplaceable biome at the cost of a few hundred temporary jobs. How long do you suppose they will stay around after the low-grade copper and nickel ore slag heaps turn it into West Virginia of the north?
12
I understand about Iron Range residents' needs for good paying jobs--but surely there are better ways to bring work back. Inhaling taconite dust has caused lung disorders in miners on the Iron Range, including scarring around the lungs and a rare cancer called mesothelioma that has killed 80 workers (as of 2014). "A six-year study (by the University of Minnesota) found that workers exposed to high levels of airborne mineral fibers were more than twice as likely to develop the cancer than miners exposed to low levels. The finding reinforced scientists’ earlier discovery that miners who worked more years in the taconite industry stood a higher risk of mesothelioma." President Obama funded several retraining programs for miners and called for more support from Congress.
http://www.startribune.com/dec-2-2014-u-study-finds-more-evidence-of-har...
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/03/the-obama-administration...
6
Thank you Ann for the factual proof of how the mining industry is "shooting themselves in the foot." We must move on to the renewable energy sources we have. President Obama had the foresight to understand how important it is to implement retraining programs for miners.
2
It is mind-boggling that people think Trump's reckless trade war, not to mention his blustering about real wars, is going to "save" them. We're already seeing how destabilizing the Spy vs Spy shenanigans of tariff and counter tariff is and will be. NO ONE, except stock market day traders benefits from uncertainty. People of Northern Minnesota, Trump is NOT your friend.
21
the ones with the most to lose in a trade war are the ones with a trade surplus. With whom do we have a trade surplus with ? Yes some products will cost a little more, some may cost a little less. Pig farmers may indeed loose some revenue and the cost of bacon may come down.. I like bacon.. Whats important to me is that we dont let our ability to produce get lost on our quest for the cheapest cost of a product.. Ill pay more for made in america.. Most people on the right will..
Delusion is a sad thing to see. Or read.
19
Phyliss Dalmation, it is this short-sighted perspective that is a large part of the reason why Trump is our president (and why he is leading the race for reelection). In other words, this part of the American population has felt forgotten, ignored or even worse, demeaned for a number of years and they found a candidate that spoke to them. That is not delusion, that is called the popular vote.
Like Liberal democrats, people vote their self-interest and their values. Iron Ore workers voting for mining jobs and higher wages, even if some have to hold their nose in order to do so, are no less dimwitted or American than people who vote for their self-interest in supporting single payer healthcare. The Democratic Party for many election cycles were able to win these voters, it isn't that hard if the Party is willing to make them a focus.
5
As the article clearly states jobs started coming back under Obama due to anti dumping rules. No mention of that by the mining community. Those now supporting Trump believe in strong unions. His party believes in crushing them. These facts don’t square.
3
Talk about short-sighted perspective. Your candidate may speak to you but he has demonstrated time and time again that his words mean nothing. To your dismay you will find out that this tariff talk is just that, all talk. Mr. Trump is just not trustworthy. Witness the tax "reform" which is no reform at all and really favors only the very wealthy. And what about filling out your taxes on that post card. In point of fact the White House after only 2 days is backing off the steel tariff talk. You Trump voters can follow your President all you want but you are being led around in circles.
3
To me the take-away is that this revival began in the final months of the Obama presidency, because of Obama's crackdown on dumping of steel. None of this is any thanks to Trump, and none of it required a trade war or gutting environmental protections.
21
President Obama funded several retraining programs for miners and pushed for more support from Congress.
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/03/the-obama-administration...
10
Be serious. Obama made clear his plans to close the mines and put people out of work.
Iron Range folks may think Trump is "Saving Us." But what does the rest of the state think? Specifically, I doubt those in agriculture share their views. The trade war is going to put a big, big hurt on the Minnesota ag economy.
1
Mining is an on-again off-again industry, with years of prosperity liberally sprinkled with years of layoffs (I have friends in the area). Not a good industry in which to plan your career. In addition, further mining in NoMN threatens to damage the Boundary Waters, fragile ecosystems and Native livelihoods, let alone the Mississippi watershed and future water supplies. We need a better plan, not a plan that profits corporations and destroys the land (and yes, our corn and soybean farmers and pork producers!)
4
Just because grandpa worked in a taconite mine or coal mine doesn't mean that you get to. Learn new, in demand skills, be willing to move to where the jobs are and leave behind bad habits that keep you from passing the employer's mandatory drug test. Previous generations of Americans were ready and willing to adapt to new market conditions. Now? Not so much.
1
What is this the hunger games? ( I know this is a glib quip and far less verbose than a typical NYT reader comment. Forgive my brevity and reference to a terrible pop culture reference, I'll do better next time)
1
?????looming trade war?
really?
Wait til their friends lose their jobs in the bulk grain port in Duluth ....
It’s the battle of the titans and mental midgets
And guess who’s gonna win?
No one
5
The ones who have trade deficits are the ones who win trade wars. Who has trade deficits again, oh thats right.. WE DO, WITH EVERYONE.
"Mr. Nolan said the president 'connects in his messaging' on the Iron Range by focusing on economic anxiety." What Trump is really doing is exploiting that anxiety, preying on people's fears while offering solutions that are either completely ineffective, or that have so many second- and third-order repercussions that the primary benefit is completely outweighed (i.e., if a broader economic downturn owing to a full-blown trade war makes any steel industry gains insiginificant). It also appears that he is backtracking as China counter-punched, with the Administration now claiming it is not leading us to trade war, but rather is in "negotiations" with China. We'll see how long the tariffs last.
6
Jobs jobs jobs former demoncrat who saw the light I don't leave the the party left me. MAGA
5
Yes, me too. MAGA. I left the Dems due to the Dems' relentless and unwavering support for illegals, which they support over WWC voters, American kids, and any citizens. Obama did a lot for Indian (Asian) workers, with the H-4 visa and OPT extension. Millions of Americans lost good jobs to H-1Bs, L-1, J-1, OPT, B-1, TN-1 under him. He supported with great enthusiasm programs that cost millions of Americans their careers.
1
Goodbye. Progressives do not want to be aligned with or associated with people who are apologists for a narcissistic bigot.
5
George, I too have been affected by the H-1 VISA etc. crowd in Silicon Valley but that push came from our corporate masters who found it cheaper to invest in foreign workers than Americans, especially those over 50. I did learn to appreciate the thoughtful, smart foreign-born people I worked with; most with advanced degrees, but was sad to see U.S. born workers losing out. Additional job losses have been due to offshoring and automation. And it hasn't helped that U.S. corporations parked $2.6 trillion in untaxed profits offshore and have consistently gamed the system to pay lower taxes at home (GE - 0%, Cisco 5-6%, AT&T 8%, Apple...etc.). One recent study found each dollar America’s 50 biggest companies paid in federal taxes between 2008 and 2014, they received $27 back in federal loans, loan guarantees and bailouts; a problem of progressive greed and a gamed tax system. That said,
President Obama did more to keep this country from a second depression and fought for measures that led to job growth and the 4% unemployment we have today. I found these facts surprising and worth reviewing: http://pleasecutthecrap.com/obama-accomplishments/
9
I've literally not heard one single person be happy about increasing mining in this state... We're pretty far away from where the mining might occur, but people here have a good understanding of the importance of nature.
1
Everything is either mined or grown, it does not just magically appear at the stores in the city. Have some empathy for those who work for a living and could use some of our support. One day working in those mines might change everyone's attitude.
The left has done a fantastic job of stigmatizing everything blue collar.
It’s just baffling that these Republicans who feign “love of country” so much act in ways so contradictory to that claim. They actually don’t give a whit about the country if doing so means doing what’s right for the country at the expense of their own individual concerns. And that’s the ruinous nature of the unspoken mantra of the Republican Party: “Ask not what you can do for your country, ask what your country can do for you”. Unbridled reckless Republican selfishness will be the undoing of the United States.
6
And now with Trump's blessing, they can get rid of all of those satanic commie unions and pay those worthless low class workers what they are really worth.
Nothing
Donald doesn't like paying his workers either.
5
Or paying bills
Or getting coal jobs back
Or
Or
......
Who cares?
Mental midgets make petty decisions
For gullible halfwits
Meanwhile Rome is burning
2
Yup and killing jobs and business in the bulk grain port of Duluth/Superior
Go dimwit Donny go
Right down the tubes
8
Trump Is ‘Saving Us’....
While he Kills the rest of the Nation's Economy.
Congrats...or something.
12
Please tend to your Trump Derangement Syndrome. The economy is at record + everything.
3
And you can thank Obama for helping turn the economy around with NO help from republicans. Trump inherited a gold mine in 2016 compared to what Obama inherited in 2008.
2
Just a coincidence it took off the day Trump was elected ? I think not.. It was never going to boom under obama. Face it, he was bad for business. BTW.. It was the FED that saved us from the recession..
Guess you can fool most of the miners most of the time.
The only people that will benefit if at all, are millionaire mine owners.
While Pruitt guts EPA safety standards for mine workers. And the GOP destroys health care for miners and their families.
Shameless.
16
Spoken like a clueless "East or West coaster". I live on the Iron Range and the jobs these folks have up here pay a good living wage. You also might want to look up MSHA. Pruitt's EPA activities will have nothing to do with mine safety. Additionally, the anti-gun noise will have just as big an impact up here in November. Go along and order your double latte now and just leave us flyover state citizens alone.
8
Red, blue, purple or chartreuse....the reluctance/refusal of US mining and steel companies' to innovate and invest in new methods/technologies over decades were a considerable factor in their own demise.... and now those companies who have invested and evolved will pay the price. That makes sense - buggy whips and black lung anyone ??
8
Black lung? What the H3!! are you talking about... Do you even know what an iron ore mine in this area looks like? It's open pit mining. You might want to take the time to learn about the topic before throwing what you think are bombs. Black lung is associated with coal mining and then only in the traditional under ground coal mine setting. No wonder it's so easy to get the left riled up if all you need to do is throw out a statement that has nothing to do with reality.
11
I'm perfectly aware that Black Lung is associated with Coal Mining. The point of the statement - which you've clearly missed - is that this administration and it's supporters don't seem to get that going backwards, for ANY industry, is not a the way to become competitive and move forward, and the US market alone - in current condition - can't support demand.
2
If I am reading this correctly, it looks like the Republicans are being rewarded for something Obama did in his last months in office? "Mines began reopening in the final months of Barack Obama's presidency, when he cracked down on steel dumping, and that growth has continued under Mr. Trump." I think the tariffs issue is quite complex and I'm not 100% sure what to think about it, but isn't it too early to attribute these changes to the tariffs when this is, apparently, the continuation of a trend that started under Obama? Just wondering about the reporting here.
23
you're not reading it correctly
3
Trump is building his Reich from the inside out. Nothing like getting the highly capitalized earth extractors and their overpaid minions on your side. They got the money and in this day that is the ONLY thing that talks.
Read about how Adolph did it “legally” a little while ago. The big industry capital guys loved him. The parallels may surprise you.
3
Minnesota will surely turn Red in 2018 and 2020.
Repeat what happened 40 years ago,
After DFL's long dominance, it elected Republican governor and
bothe senators in 1978. (Humphrey's death in early that year made
two senate elections in 1978)Both DFL Senators Humphrey and Mondale
served VP then later ran for presidential election and lost.
It's like a cult. Once you're in and realize you've been had, kinda hard to leave.
17
The mayor changed his registration to Republican? Minnesotans don't register for a party. Maybe you meant to say that he is now caucusing with the Republicans rather than the Democrat Farmer Labor party
8
The Iron Range has always been quite conservative on everything except labor unions, and they are usually quite alert to economic issues affecting the region's livelihood. A Hibbing native explained it me during the 1980s collapse as, "when Detroit gets the sniffles, Da Range gets pneumonia." Today, they may cheer Trump's steel tariffs, but maybe no so much China's retaliatory tariffs on Buicks.
10
Right. And Adolph gave his people an autobahn, and then he saved them. And Benito gave his people trains that ran on time. And then he saved them.
Miners have always spent too much time in the dark.
62
To George Eliot
Very wrong and ill comparison to Hitler and Mussolini.
5
Linjack:
Trump has a Hitler fetish.
http://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trumps-ex-wife-once-said-he-kept-a...
Quote:
According to a 1990 Vanity Fairinterview, Ivana Trump once told her lawyer Michael Kennedy that her husband, real-estate mogul Donald Trump, now a leading Republican presidential candidate, kept a book of Hitler's speeches near his bed.
"Last April, perhaps in a surge of Czech nationalism, Ivana Trump told her lawyer Michael Kennedy that from time to time her husband reads a book of Hitler's collected speeches, My New Order, which he keeps in a cabinet by his bed ... Hitler's speeches, from his earliest days up through the Phony War of 1939, reveal his extraordinary ability as a master propagandist," Marie Brenner wrote.
Hitler was one of history's mostprolific orators, building a genocidal Nazi regime with speeches that bewitched audiences.
"He learned how to become a charismatic speaker, and people, for whatever reason, became enamored with him," Professor Bruce Loebs, who has taught a class called the Rhetoric of Hitler and Churchill for the past 46 years at Idaho State University, told Business Insider earlier this year.
"People were most willing to follow him, because he seemed to have the right answers in a time of enormous economic upheaval."
1
" .. Miners have always spent too much time in the dark .."
Wow, great, just like how HRC insulted 50% of voters and lost the working class. Keep it up -- the Democrats *will* become a minor political party. Thanks!
7
If a return to folks in a mine is progress, we’ll be left in the (coal) dust.
26
They're iron mines. You own anything made of steel? SMH at another comment from an "Eastern Elite".
5
The 8th district voters have stood with the Democrats on labor issues and government handouts, and with the Republicans on most other issues. Not only the congressional seat but some legislative seats should flip red. Gun restrictions will have an even bigger impact than tariffs.
5
Don't count your chickens yet. If Trump's tariff war tanks the economy who will want your steel? Any "victory" is likely to be short term and pyrrhic in the long run.
39
So, the mines began reopening during Obama's presidency, after he "clamped down on China's dumping of steel," but the folks quoted for this story give trump, not Obama the credit, and believe trump is representing their best interests?
Interesting. So these folks, if accurately quoted, are so myopic (best case) as to believe that a few hundred mining jobs are more valuable than affordable health care, an intact safety net (including Medicare & Medicaid), clean air, public land staying in public hands, respect for democratic institutions, leaders with character & integrity, and stable international relations rather than threats of nuclear war & the intentional destabilization of the post WW2 order?
107
All the above is great, but if you're out of work, only a paycheck matters to many people. I am all for more steel production and manufacturing in the US, but you have to believe that if steel production comes back in a big way, the companies will automate many of the old jobs anyway.
This seems to be the main way Trump will keep his base; cater to their immediate needs and ignore the bigger long-term picture.
20
They're not "myopic." They're just ignorant and stupid, as are most Americans.
6
It's not as simple as that, imagine if your community were coming apart at the seams. These communities have been in decline since the 70's and most are in real bad shape. Mining is the biggest issue because it's their only hope of making a life in the communities they call home.
I'm frustrated by all these policies because what's really needed is new industry and job training. Mining is not coming back and we are merely delaying the inevitable. In the mean time these communities are hurting.
I'm no fan of trump and those of us that aren't pro mining are always trying to limit the environmental impact in the state. But I can't condemn these people for trying to save their way of life, misguided as it is. Like you, I find the situation upsetting.
9
Dems are deluded about the "Blue Wall" states: MI, PA, MN, WI. These are all either red states or on the cusp. In the last election, MN almost went Trump, and the Senate joined the House as a R House. Gov is D, but both houses are not. Rural turfs in MN, like in WI, are R. Top to bottom. IL also may be moving. The total disaster of the pension system, which will raise already high property taxes, will shift a lot of residents to the R column. ANY rural area today is R. Read "The politics of resentment" to get a glimpse. Those reading this comment blog are substantially elitist coastal liberals, and have never seen a live cow. Things are different out here in Flyover, USA
15
Dude, a LOT of cows live in NYS. There is a reason Chobani built the initial yogurt plants in upstate NY. Close to the dairy cows. NY is #3 in the US.
There are cows that live across the street from me and I am only 65 miles form NYC.
Maybe the "flyover" states should expand their experience and knowledge. East coasters live in a much more diverse and varied environment than you imagine, I guess.
30
"Those reading this comment blog are substantially elitist coastal liberals,"
And yet, here you are.
28
I live in flyover country too, so don’t presume to speak for me or anyone else. Being blue collar & pro union certainly doesn’t make me pro Trump or republican and I can see a con job like Trump without being one of those costal elites people like you disparage. Trump’s tariff con is about 2018 elections not American workers. Once he’s got what he wants he’ll do to the working class what he’s always done as one of those costal business elites. What’s that you say? Ask all the employees and small contractors he’s cheated and you’ll have the answer. Sad
42
Believe anything Trump says or does at your own risk. Especially believing anything he does or says is EVER in anyone's interests but his own.
50
The flip side to your comment: To believe anything from Democrats and Liberals places our country at risk because, despite promises, the only thing they worry about is themselves!
4
The irony of claiming that liberals and progressives only care for themselves. Who has been pushing for universal healthcare? For a higher minimum wage? For restrictions on predatory business practices? For
On the flip side, who has been hell-bent on slashing the safety net to ribbons?
6
Dems enacted universal health INSURANCE to benefit their big donors, which has nothing to do with actual health CARE.
A higher minimum wage just drives up unemployment and incentivized automation, both of which make it harder for unskilled young people trying to get a foot on the first rung of the ladder.
https://www.cbo.gov/publication/44995
Americans want good jobs with GOOD wages, not the poverty that comes with the minimum wage even if it is raised a little bit.
1
Mining. Pollution. Dirty, filthy outdated way to produce energy. Hopefully the miners that are being 'saved' will have Mr. and Mrs. T by their bedside holding their hands as they're coughing up blood and trying to breathe with black lung disease or copd.
There has to be another way to save these people. I really used to think Minnesotans were tough and smarter than this. Maybe Im wrong again.
24
These people don't mine coal. Iron. Important to read the story.
8
dude it's still mining and polluting and dirty. And bad for the people on the speartip.
1
When the multi-national corporations came to Mini-Soda in the '70's for the worker ethic they were famous for, they hired "outsiders" instead of locals, that diluted to population from "We can take it" people to "Why is it so cold here?" wussies. I left the state in '87 & returned last Summer to a place I no longer recognize.
I grew up on the Iron Range, a little town called Babbitt, MN, built completely by the Reserve Mining Company in the 50s. My dad was one of the people caught up in the 80s bust. He and his union had to fight to retain his pension.
There has always been an instinct there to blame South America, Japan, now China for the economic instability, but there was always the undercurrent of something else, a deep realization that the economic model just maybe wasn't completely sustainable in an increasingly global economy. I think that even the new Trump supporters feel this way, down deep... but will reach for any raft in a storm.
It's a beautiful, historic, naturally-bountiful area with a lot to offer besides iron and taconite. Let's hope they can make a transition, establish something long term that isn't dependent on the twitter whims of a manipulative politician. These folks deserve better.
83
" .. Let's hope they can make a transition, establish something long term that isn't dependent on the twitter whims of a manipulative politician .."
Good news -- HRC lost the country. And with luck, she and her goofy husband will finally be gone, soon.
2
One word of caution and some missing data. There are usually about 350000 - 400000 voters in the 8th district (and only 4000 miners) and as noted, the district is not just up north but goes all the way down to the suburbs of the twin cities. That doesn't meet the definition of sparsely populated.
39