Financial News on Steel / Iron / Aluminum

Steel (and the iron ore used to make steel) and aluminum are the two big industrial metal industries. Wikipedia: KukaXoco:

• Another AI-related bubbling: shares of Cleveland-Cliffs jump more than 20% as the steelmaker is reviewing two properties it owns for the presence of rare-earth metals. Presence, not actual minable discoveries.
  - Comcast's CNBC, 20 October 2025

• Shares of Cleveland-Cliffs jump more than 20% as the steelmaker is reviewing two properties it owns for the presence of rare-earth metals. Presence, not actual minable discoveries.
  - Comcast's CNBC, 20 October 2025

• The steel industry in Deutschland collapses: the march towards green socialism. If subsidies and protectionism fail, the sector will be nationalized.
  - Zero Hedge, 17 October 2025

• Ford reduces production of even ;5Dmore vehicles after aluminum supply shock, after a fire at its Novelis aluminum mill fire in Oswego, New York, which shut the plant down until early next year
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 14 October 2025

• Ford reduces production of even ;5Dmore vehicles after aluminum supply shock, after a fire at its Novelis aluminum mill fire in Oswego, New York, which shut the plant down until early next year
  - Zero Hedge, 14 October 2025

• InventWood, a company in the USA, has engineered a new type of wood that it says has up to 10 times the strength-to-weight ratio of steel, while also being up to six times lighter
  - Warner Brothers CNN, 14 October 2025

• Krone, one of the biggest farm machinery companies in Europe, is halting all exports to the USA over "hidden" taxes/tariffs imposed by Trump. Firms such as Krone, whose products include combine harvesters, now have to certify the origin, weight and value of any steel in their products right down to nuts and bolts.
  - The Guardian, 13 October 2025

• Aluminum could become the next popular metal after copper. Demand is set to be boosted by electrification, while supply is constrained by rising power needs.
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 11 October 2025

• Why new steel taxes/tariffs imposed by the European Union to reduce imports from Zhōngguó are giving carmakers a headache. Proposal to cut tariff-free quotas, double duties for imported steel triggers sell-off in auto stocks in Europe, complaints from industry group.
  - Alibaba's South China Morning Post, 08 October 2025

• Shares of BMW fell 8%, and other car companies in Europe declined 1% to 2%, amid concern that the European Union's latest efforts to protect the domestic steel market could threaten the auto sector in Europe. The proposal includes a push to limit tariff-free import volumes to 18.3 million tons a year, reflecting a reduction of 47% compared with 2024 steel quotas - and doubling tariffs to 50% on any excess imports.
  - Comcast's CNBC, 08 October 2025

• Shares of BMW fell 8%, and other car companies in Europe declined 1% to 2%, amid concern that the European Union's latest efforts to protect the domestic steel market could threaten the auto sector in Europe. The proposal includes a push to limit tariff-free import volumes to 18.3 million tons a year, reflecting a reduction of 47% compared with 2024 steel quotas - and doubling tariffs to 50% on any excess imports.
  - Comcast's CNBC, 08 October 2025

• Steel manufacturers in the United Kingdom face an "existential threat" from tax/tariff increases by the European Union
  - PA Media, 08 October 2025

• Zhōngguó halts all new BHP iron ore cargoes. China Mineral Resources Group has temporarily halted purchases of all dollar-denominated seaborne iron ore cargoes from BHP Group vessels. The suspension highlights Beijing's efforts to exert greater influence in global iron ore markets, shifting power away from global miners (BHP, Rio Tinto, Vale) toward Zhōngguó's steel industry.
  - Zero Hedge, 01 October 2025

• Trump taxes/tariffs are damaging the biggest source of screws for companies in the USA. Taiwan has long been the top provider of screws to the U.S. But its factories are struggling to survive under President s tariffs on steel and aluminum.
  - Ochs-Sulzberger's New York Times, 22 September 2025

• [The racist] Trump engages in nationalist socialist industrial policy by stopping US Steel from idling operations at one of its steel plants (a private sector capitalist decision), using his power by the USA owning 10% of US Steel (now controlled by Nippon Steel).
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 20 September 2025

• [The racist] Trump engages in nationalist socialist industrial policy by stopping US Steel from idling operations at one of its steel plants (a private sector capitalist decision), using his power by the USA owning 10% of US Steel (now controlled by Nippon Steel).
  - Comcast's CNBC, 20 September 2025

• Under financial stress, BHP, the world's top exporter of steelmaking coal, fires people and shutdowns coal-mining pits. Rising operating costs, falling coal prices and high royalties are straining Australia's massive steelmaking coal mines, triggering firings, and pit closures.
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 20 September 2025

• The volatility of iron ore prices are at its 2008 low. Iron ore futures prices in Singapore closed the week near six-month highs, supported by signs of revived Chinese demand driving peak-season restocking, alongside other factors such as steel mills curbing supply and expectations for a 25-bps interest rate cut in the USA next week.
  - Zero Hedge, 12 September 2025

• Brazilian miner Vale said on Thursday it will invest 67 billion reais ($12.36 billion) in its mining operations in Minas Gerais state by 2030. Most of the investments will be focused on solutions to expand filtering and dry stacking of iron ore tailings.
  - Thomson's Reuters, 04 September 2025

• The increase in construction of new steel mills in the USA is outpacing demand. Data shows that Trump's taxes/tariffs have been slow to boost domestic prices and arrest a decline in steel consumption in the USA.
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 26 August 2025

• For the second time this year, the British government is set to take control of a large, ailing steel business. The move comes after a court approved on Thursday the liquidation of the unit, called Speciality Steel UK, which is part of Liberty Steel, a metals business started by the industrials entrepreneur Sanjeev Gupta. The government is expected to guarantee pay for the nearly 1,500 employees there, at least in the short term, while buyers are sought for the business.
  - Ochs-Sulzberger's New York Times, 23 August 2025

• Trump's steel taxes/tariffs now apply to milk and hundreds of other products that aren't steel (but involve steel). It makes little sense, but that's what happens when idiot puppets give Trump unchecked, unilateral tax/tariff powers.
  - Reason.com, 20 August 2025

• Trump has ordered the Commerce Department to increase steel and aluminium taxes/tariffs on more than 400 imported products including wind turbines, mobile cranes, bulldozers and other heavy equipment, along with railcars, furniture and hundreds of other products
  - Al Jazeera, 19 August 2025

• The leading global miner BHP Group posted its weakest annual result in five years, showing the pressure from lower iron ore prices and softer steel demand from Zhōngguó. The BHP Group reported underlying attributable profit of $10.16 billion, marking a 26% drop from the prior year.
  - Benzinga, 19 August 2025

• Expanding in the USA has been part of a strategy plotted by BlueScope Steel to diversify from its home market of Australia
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 19 August 2025

• Scientists in Zhōngguó have developed a breakthrough steel, CHSN01, capable of withstanding extreme cold and massive magnetic forces, and deployed it this year in the world's first fusion nuclear power generation reactor.
  - Zero Hedge, 11 August 2025

• Can AriZona's 99-cent iced tea survive Trump's taxes/tariffs? The price has been Arizona's calling card for nearly three decades. A 50% tax/tariff on impors of aluminum may change that.
  - Ochs-Sulzberger's New York Times, 11 August 2025

• Steel alloy producers in Bharat file an anti-dumping complaint against steel imported from Zhōngguó. The complaint was filed with the federal trade ministry of Bharat.
  - Thomson's Reuters, 10 August 2025

• Trump's war on Canada: a CEO of a steel company in Canada says that Trump's taxes/tariffs could end steels exports from Canada to the USA. "Once the full effect of (Trump's taxes/tariffs) plays out, it will effectively lock out Algoma and frankly other Canadian steel producers from the USA market."
  - Zero Hedge, 10 August 2025

• Steelmakers in Zhōngguó are competing less strongly as a price war reduces profit margins. Facing chronic oversupply and government demands to end a cost-cutting race to the bottom, the steel industry in Zhōngguó looks for solutions.
  - Alibaba's South China Morning Post, 08 August 2025

• The euro drops in value against the USA dollar, after the USA and Europe agree to a trade deal
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 27 July 2025

• Trump and the European Union agree to a trade deal: taxes/tariffs of 15 on imports from Europe (Trump wanted 30%, Europe wanted 10%), and the EU agreed to buy $750 billion of energy from the USA (which it mostly would have done so anyways). The 50% tax/tariff on imports of steel and aluminum from Europe will rmain in force.
  - Comcast's CNBC, 27 July 2025

• Trump and the European Union agree to a trade deal: taxes/tariffs of 15 on imports from Europe (Trump wanted 30%, Europe wanted 10%), and the EU agreed to buy $750 billion of energy from the USA (which it mostly would have done so anyways). The 50% tax/tariff on imports of steel and aluminum from Europe will rmain in force.
  - Thomson's Reuters, 27 July 2025

• Trump and the European Union agree to a trade deal: taxes/tariffs of 15 on imports from Europe (Trump wanted 30%, Europe wanted 10%), and the EU agreed to buy $750 billion of energy from the USA (which it mostly would have done so anyways). The 50% tax/tariff on imports of steel and aluminum from Europe will rmain in force.
  - Associated Press, 27 July 2025

• Trump and the European Union agree to a trade deal: taxes/tariffs of 15 on imports from Europe (Trump wanted 30%, Europe wanted 10%), and the EU agreed to buy $750 billion of energy from the USA (which it mostly would have done so anyways). The 50% tax/tariff on imports of steel and aluminum from Europe will rmain in force.
  - Ochs-Sulzberger's New York Times, 27 July 2025

• After a five-year drought caused by global heating due to fossil fuels (which Iran profits greatly from) and decades of mismanagement by the Islamic government of Iran, the huge city of Tehran (population about 10 million) is at risk of running out of water in several weeks, the government warned. Iran is also suffering from daily reductions in supplies of electricity, skyrocketing inflation and other problems. The government also wastes a lot of water on water-intensive industries such as steelmaking.
  - Ochs-Sulzberger's New York Times, 27 July 2025

• After a five-year drought caused by global heating due to fossil fuels (which Iran profits greatly from) and decades of mismanagement by the Islamic government of Iran, the huge city of Tehran (population about 10 million) is at risk of running out of water in several weeks, the government warned. Iran is also suffering from daily reductions in supplies of electricity, skyrocketing inflation and other problems. The government also wastes a lot of water on water-intensive industries such as steelmaking.
  - Warner Brothers CNN, 27 July 2025

• The economy of the world produces too much steel, but no country wants to stop manufacturing too much steel. Thus, the tax/tariff trades wars breaking out over steel.
  - Ochs-Sulzberger's New York Times, 25 July 2025

• Purchasing steel in the USA just got more expensive. Buyers blame Trump's taxes/tariffs. Steel producers like Cleveland Cliffs and Steel Dynamics both said this week that they raised prices after Trump imposed a 50 percent tax/tariff on imports of steel, raising costs in many industries, especially the automobile industry.
  - Ochs-Sulzberger's New York Times, 23 July 2025

• After whining about competition from foreign steel companies, and raising its steel prices in the USA, the utterly hypocritical Cleveland-Cliffs is trying to sell the company's USA steel plants ... to foreign companies
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 23 July 2025

• The steel industry in the USA is one of the most socialist industries in the USA. For 60 years, Washington has given out innumerable socialist subsidies to steel producers in the USA in the form of protectionism, subsidies, bailouts, and other government goodies.
  - Cato At Liberty, 23 July 2025

• Canada acts to block imports of steel from Zhōngguó, steel that is now being blocked out of import into the USA
  - Ochs-Sulzberger's New York Times, 18 July 2025

• Alcoa reported a higher second-quarter profit, topping analyst expectations, and said it mitigated Trump's tax/tariff costs on aluminum by redirecting aluminum from Canada to customers outside of the USA.
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 17 July 2025

• Trump's new taxes/tariffs on imports of copper are the new 'steel' taxes/tariffs. The new copper taxes/tariffs are unlikely to reshore much copper production anytime soon, but will surely cause enormous pain in the ensuing years.
  - Cato At Liberty, 16 July 2025

• Conagra, a food-and-snacks company, expects worsening inflation to hurt its sales this year, worsening inflation due in part to Trump's taxes/tariffs on materials such as steel and aluminum
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 11 July 2025

• Prices of futures contracts for iron ore in Singapore rose over 3%, approaching $100/ton, after the government of Zhōngguó promises to reduce overcapacity in important industrial sectors.
  - Zero Hedge, 10 July 2025

• Trump's tax/tariff on imports of copper, automobiles, drugs and aluminum could hurt the economy of the USA more than his other taxes/tariffs, given the major role of these commodities
  - Comcast's CNBC, 09 July 2025

• Craft brewers in the USA are suffering financially due to Trump's taxes/tariffs on steel and aluminum, and taxes/tariffs on ingredients such as hops from Europe, cocoa from Africa, etc.
  - Cato At Liberty, 03 July 2025

• The racist immigration policies of Trump, greatly hurting the Latino communities of the south and west of the USA, is also hurting sales of beverages manufactured by Constellation Brands. Half of its sales are due to the Latino community, who are spending less out of fear of the impact of Trump's racist immigration policies.
  - Comcast's CNBC, 02 July 2025

• Constellation Brands, which owns Modelo, reported quarterly earnings less than predicted, due to decreased demand and paying more for aluminum because of Trump's taxes/tariffs reducing profit margins
  - Comcast's CNBC, 02 July 2025

• Constellation Brands, which owns Modelo, reported quarterly earnings less than predicted, due to decreased demand and paying more for aluminum because of Trump's taxes/tariffs reducing profit margins
  - Murdoch's New York Post, 02 July 2025

• It is bulletproof, fire-resistant and stronger than steel. It is 'superwood'. Waste wood scraps, changed at the molecular level, could become heavy-duty building materials -- and even replace plastic, aluminum and carbon fiber in our vehicles and gadgets.
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 28 June 2025

• Trump's authoritarian demand for a controlling stake in US Steel is indefensible socialist nonsense. Any decisions made by US Steel's executives and shareholders will require approval from Trump, his appointees, or his successors - socialist industrial planning.
  - Reason, 26 June 2025

• If food and beer cans get more expensive, consumers may pay the price. Trump's taxes/tariffs on steel and aluminum may raise the cost of containers. Food and beverage companies say they cannot absorb the expense caused by Trump.
  - Ochs-Sulzberger's New York Times, 24 June 2025

• Trump's socialist plans to nationalize the steel industry in the USA. First step: approve the merger of Nippon Steel and US Steel in return for receiving a 'golden share' which includes voting rights and a lot of government control.
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 23 June 2025

• Canada is considering to increase taxes/tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum from the USA, starting July 21, if trade talks with Trump stall. Currently, USA taxes/tariffs are 50%, while Canada imposes taxes/tariffs of 25%.
  - Bloomberg, 19 June 2025

• Canada is considering to increase taxes/tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum from the USA, starting July 21, if trade talks with Trump stall. Currently, USA taxes/tariffs are 50%, while Canada imposes taxes/tariffs of 25%.
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 19 June 2025

• Prices of iron ore decline to 9-month lows, as Citi and Goldman Sachs reduce their price targets. "Steel demand in Zhōngguó is likely to remain weak over the coming months."
  - Zero Hedge, 17 June 2025

• The government of Zhōngguó reduces steel output in the country as the government's restrictions start to take effect
  - Bloomberg, 16 June 2025

• The 'golden share' that the USA owns in the US Steel gives Trump extraordinary control. Administration officials secured a deal that will give Trump unusual, socialist, influence over a private company, and could serve as a model for other deals.
  - Ochs-Sulzberger's New York Times, 16 June 2025

• The socialist 'golden share' requirement to allow the US Steel / Nippon Steel merger could scare off foreign investors to do deals in the USA
  - Ochs-Sulzberger's New York Times, 16 June 2025

• Trump's steel taxes/tariffs expanded to hit home appliances. The move is one of the first times this year that consumer products were specifically targeted with higher import taxes. Washing machines, refrigerators and other common household appliances made with steel parts will soon be subject to expanded taxes/tariffs. The Commerce Department said in a notice that levies would take effect on so-called steel derivative products on June 23 and will be set at 50 percent, the current level for all other steel and aluminum imports. The new tariffs will apply to the value of steel content in each import, the notice said.
  - Ochs-Sulzberger's New York Times, 14 June 2025

• Shares of steel stocks drop 4% to 8% after the USA nears a deal with México to reduce taxes/tariffs on imports of steel from Mexico. The proposed terms allow buyers in the USA to import steel from México without paying import taxes/tariffs, as long as they kept total shipments below a level based on historical trade volumes.
  - Zero Hedge, 10 June 2025

• Researchers have developed a highly effective dual-layer coating that provides 99.6% protection against iron corrosion. The breakthrough combines a thin molecular primer with a durable polymer layer, creating a strong, long-lasting barrier against rust. This innovation could significantly reduce maintenance costs and extend the lifespan of iron-based materials used in construction, transportation, and manufacturing.
  - Phys.org, 10 June 2025

• The canned-food aisle in supermarkets is getting squeezed by Trump's rising taxes/tariffs on imports of steel. Steel used in cans is mostly imported -- and subject to Trump's new 50% tax/tariff.
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 09 June 2025

• The economic idiocy of Trump's 50% taxes/tariffs on imports of steel: at least 46-times more people work in steel-consuming industries (which now have to pay higher prices for steel, which could cause people to be fired) than those people that work for domestic steel producing companies (which doesn't hire as many people). Add in non-manufacturing steel-consuming industries like construction, and the ratio becomes substantially larger (indeed, some place it at 80:1). Moreover, the higher tariffs also apply to steel derivatives - downstream products made from steel - urther raising prices on American businesses and consumers.
  - Cato Institute, 04 June 2025

• How higher tariffs on steel and aluminum will affect companies
  - Ochs-Sulzberger's New York Times, 04 June 2025

• Higher taxes/tariffs take effect today on imports of steel and aluminum. The taxes/tariffs, which rose to 50 percent from 25 percent, have already rankled close allies that sell metal to the USA, including Canada and the European Union.
  - Ochs-Sulzberger's New York Times, 04 June 2025

• Trump's 50% tariffs on most imported steel and aluminum went into effect on Wednesday, the same day as his deadline for trading partners to give their "best offers" in bids to avoid import tax rates on other goods from taking effect next month.
  - Murdoch's Fox Business, 04 June 2025

• Iron released from coal combustion and steel production is altering the ecosystem in a critical part of the North Pacific, a new study has found. Iron is essential for the growth of microscopic phytoplankton in the ocean, but industrial emissions contain aerosolized iron, which quickly dissolves in the ocean and disrupts nutrient balances, the authors noted.
  - The Hill, 02 June 2025

• Editorial: Trump's new 'Steel Curtain'. Trump's 50% tax/tariff on imports of steel will punish steel users in the USA, including automobile makers in the USA. Why? This will make steelmakers in the USA less competitive.
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 02 June 2025

• Trump's 50% tax/tariff on imports of steel and aluminum from Europe could cause huge declines in the price of steel in Europe (good for buyers, bad for sellers) and huge increases in the price of steel in the USA. Analysts also note the increased uncertainty for businesses, with no guarantee the tariffs will remain in effect.
  - Comcast's CNBC, 02 June 2025

• Shares of steel stocks surge on Monday after Trump doubles to 50% the taxes/tariffs of imports of steel, with shares of Cleveland Cliffs rising 20%.
  - Comcast's CNBC, 02 June 2025

• The European Union is "prepared to impose countermeasures" after Trump doubles the taxes/tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum from 25% to 50%. The United Steelworkers union also criticized Trump's announcement and said it is a "direct attack on industries and workers in Canada."
  - Comcast's CNBC, 31 May 2025

• A sharp increase in steel/aluminum taxes/tariffs to 50% by Trump could imperil Trump's promise of lower grocery prices, since steel and aluminum are ubiquitous in packaging of consumer products
  - Comcast's CNBC, 31 May 2025

• Trump says that he will double (from 25%) taxes/tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum to 50%
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 30 May 2025

• Trump says that he will double (from 25%) taxes/tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum to 50%
  - Zero Hedge, 30 May 2025

• Trump says that he will double (from 25%) taxes/tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum to 50%
  - Comcast's CNBC, 30 May 2025

• Despite his global 10% tax/tariffs being blocked, Trump can still impose sector taxes/tariffs (for example, Sector 232 on steel and aluminum). He can also use Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1975 to impose 10%/15% taxes/tariffs, but would need Congressional approval.
  - Comcast's CNBC, 29 May 2025

• Nippon Steel expected to finalize its acquisition of US Steel for $55 per share (now $53). The CEO and majority of board of directors will be Americans, to appease Trump.
  - Comcast's CNBC, 27 May 2025

• Nippon Steel expected to finalize its acquisition of US Steel for $55 per share (now $53). The CEO and majority of board of directors will be Americans, to appease Trump.
  - Zero Hedge, 27 May 2025

• JSW Steel, the largest steelmaker in Bharat, can proceed with the $74 million acquisition of a coal deposit in Mozambique after the seller, Minas de Revuboe, recovered the concession rights from the new government of Mozambique.
  - Bloomberg, 26 May 2025

• Trump to allow the deal between Nippon Steel and US Steel to move forward. Nippon Steel has pitched a new factory in the USA and billions of additional investments to clinch support for a deal.
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 24 May 2025

• The 'Powering Up America' theme has primarily focused on the surge of AI data centers being plugged into the nation's electric grid to fuel chatbots and the digital economy. But what's often overlooked are other major electrification trends, like on-shoring massive aluminum smelters, that will soon compete with AI data centers for power on strained grids. According to the U.S. Aluminum Association, producing one metric ton of aluminum takes nearly 15,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity. A modern smelter with a capacity of 750,000 tons, or about the size of the new Oklahoma smelter that will be online at the end of the decade, consumes more electricity than Boston.
  - Zero Hedge, 23 May 2025

• Zhōngguó has ended its two decade strategy to increase its share of global steel production
  - Zero Hedge, 23 May 2025

• Aluminum prices declined 1.3% as a surge in exchange stockpiles exacerbated a risk-off mood seen in the wake of Moody's downgrade of USA debt and mixed economic data from Zhōngguó.
  - Bloomberg, 19 May 2025

• Manufacturers in Bharat fear becoming financial collateral damage due to the tax/tariff trade war between the USA and Zhōngguó. From yarn to steel, domestic industries in Bharat state that they are being priced out of the market, as companies in Zhōngguó redirect exports away from the USA to Bharat.
  - Alibaba's South China Morning Post, 17 May 2025

• Shares of ThyssenKrupp plunge over 12% on earnings expectations miss
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 16 May 2025

• Bharat has filed a formal dispute with the World Trade Organization over Trump's taxes/tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from Bharat. It is a surprise move that analysts say signals a calculated pushback against unilateral trade measures, even Bharat appears eager to strike a broader deal with the USA.
  - Alibaba's South China Morning Post, 14 May 2025

• With a trade deal with the USA, the steel industry in Britain feels some much needed relief. The agreement to lift the 25% tax/tariff on steel exported to the USA provided some relief for struggling businesses, but uncertainties for the industry remain.
  - Ochs-Sulzberger's New York Times, 13 May 2025

• InventWood is about to mass-produce a wood that is stronger than steel
  - TechCrunch, 12 May 2025

• Despite Trump's taxes/tariffs, production of aluminum is not returning to the USA, due to one factor: the lack of access to competitively priced, long-term power. Norway-based Hydro, one of the world's largest aluminum producers, told CNBC that a rise in power demand driven by artificial intelligence is likely to keep electricity prices at unaffordable levels to start new smelters.
  - Comcast's CNBC, 09 May 2025

• Trump's tax/tariff trade war with Zhōngguó are causing steel exports from Zhōngguó to decline in the second quarter of 2025, threatening to exacerbate a supply glut at home, with steel exports expected to fall 20% from the first quarter. "One can look at Middle East, Africa and South America as alternative outlets but the problem is no country can absorb such a huge capacity."
  - Thomson's Reuters, 08 May 2025

• Trump to capitulate and exempt automakers in the USA from some import tariffs. Trump ould exempt car parts from the taxes/tariffs that Trump is imposing on imports from Zhōngguó, as well from taxes/tariffs imposed on imports of steel and aluminium.
  - Zero Hedge, 23 April 2025

• Bharat to impose a 12% temporary tax/tariff on imports of steel from Zhōngguó. The import of cheap steel has forced smaller steel mills in Bharat to scale down operations and consider firing people.
  - Thomson's Reuters, 21 April 2025

• Alcoa to face steep costs from Trump's taxes/tariffs despite strong results. Alcoa said it incurred about $20 million in first-quarter costs stemming from Trump's taxes/tariffs on imports. The CEO of Alcos said it would be impractical in the short term to increase aluminum production in the USA.
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 17 April 2025

• A crisis at a British steel mill has cast a shadow over relations between the UK and Zhōngguó. Britain was edging closer to Zhōngguó, but a dispute at a steel company in the UK owned by a company in Zhōngguó may prompt a rethink.
  - Ochs-Sulzberger's New York Times, 16 April 2025

• Why is British Steel in trouble and who owns its? It is currently owned by steel-making firm Jingye in Zhōngguó, though the UK government is about to take control of its only plant in Scunthorpe.
  - BBC, 12 April 2025

• Shares of US Steel decline 9% after-hours, after Trump says that he doesn't want the company sold to Nihon's Nippon Steel
  - Murdoch's New York Post, 09 April 2025

• The Commerce Department on Wednesday revised Trump's 25% tariffs on derivative aluminum products to include all beer and empty aluminum can imports
  - Thomson's Reuters, 02 April 2025

• Trump's taxes/tariffs on screws are hurting manufacturers. Taxes/tariffs on steel and aluminum are reaching deeper in supply chains and spawning a hunt for domestic producers of some of the smallest components needed in manufacturing.
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 31 March 2025

• It is hard to keep track of Trump's erratic trade policy, but one firm truth is that, by placing taxes/tariffs on México and Canada, he risks destroying the USMCA, a free-trade deal that he called "the fairest, most balanced, and beneficial trade agreement we have ever signed into law". The bitter irony is that by directing tariffs at his North American partners in the USMCA, Trump will only make Zhōngguó, the source of the world's steel crisis, an even bigger winner than it is today. Instead, Trump should team with Canada and México to protect all three countries' steel industries.
  - Real Clear Markets, 28 March 2025

• Researchers from the USA Army Research Laboratory and Lehigh University have developed a groundbreaking nanostructured copper alloy that could redefine high-temperature materials for aerospace, defense and industrial applications. Their findings, published in the journal Science, introduce a Cu-Ta-Li (Copper-Tantalum-Lithium) alloy with exceptional thermal stability and mechanical strength, making it one of the most resilient copper-based materials ever created.
  - EurekaAlert, 27 March 2025

• Shares in US Steel gained more than 7% in after-hours trading in New York Thursday. Nippon Steel slid as much as 3.98% in Friday trading in Tokyo. This, after it was reported that Nippon Steel is considering investing as much as $7 billion to upgrade United States Steel facilities if it wins approval for its proposed $14.1 billion takeover.
  - Bloomberg, 27 March 2025

• British Steel is launching a consultation that could see the closure of its two blast furnaces at Scunthorpe, putting up to 2,700 jobs at risk out of a workforce of 3,500. The company said the blast furnaces were "no longer financially sustainable" due to tough market conditions, the imposition of tariffs and higher environmental costs.
  - BBC, 27 March 2025

• The European Union will limit tax/tariff-free imports of steel by reducing its so-called liberalization rate to 0.1% from 1.0%, and eliminated the carry-over mechanism.
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 26 March 2025

• Fears due to Trump's tax/tariff trade wars with Canada and México are raising construction costs by up to 20%, says the CEO of developer Related Group, Jon Paul Perez.
  - Comcast's CNBC, 21 March 2025

• One of the biggest victim's of Trump's tax/tariff wars: the Ford F-150 truck. New steel and aluminum taxes/tariffs threaten to boost car and truck prices, as well as dent automaker profits.
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 13 March 2025

• After Trump imposes an import tax/tariff of 25% for aluminum, will hurt the beer industry. When Trump imposed a tax/tariff of 10% in 2018, within one year, it increased costs to beer companies by $250 million. What really irked the Beer Institute was that the import tariff was being passed through even though USA cansheet typically contains around 70% recycled metal sourced domestically.
  - Thomson's Reuters, 12 March 2025

• In response to Trump's taxes/tariffs on steel, the European Union is targeting a range of products from the SUA, including whiskey and motorcycles, with 50% tariffs, taking aim at politically sensitive products
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 12 March 2025

• Trump imposes sweeping 25% taxes/tariffs on all steel and aluminum imported into the USA Wednesday, a policy aimed at leveling the playing field for USA manufacturing but a move that threatens to drive up prices on a broad range of consumer and industrial goods for Americans. The European Union, hit for the first time by higher USA taxes/tariffs since Trump returned to the White House, retaliated within hours with countermeasures on USA goods exports. Trump did this economically questionable act in 2018. Although Trump's 2018 metals taxes/tariffs expanded USA production modestly, it sent costs rising for cars, tools and machines and shrank those industries output by more than $3 billion in 2021. Trump's taxes/tariffs could cause 100,000 Americans to lose their jobs, including 20,000 people in the aluminum industry, William Oplinger, CEO of Alcoa, one of the largest USA aluminum makers, warned last month.
  - Warner Brothers CNN, 12 March 2025

• Canada said Wednesday it will impose 25% taxes/tariffs on more than $20 billion worth of products from the USA in retaliation for Trump's steel and aluminum taxes/tariffs that took effect overnight. The new taxes/tariffs cover steel and aluminum, as well as other U.S. goods including computers, sports equipment and cast iron products.
  - Comcast's CNBC, 12 March 2025

• The price of a Boeing 787 plane could increase by $40 million in a worst case scenario due to Trump's taxes/tariffs, AerCap CEO Aengus Kelly said.
  - Comcast's CNBC, 12 March 2025

• The alcohol industry in the USA warns of "debilitating" retaliatory taxes/tariffs on exports of whiskey to Europe. This will hurt alcohol producers in the idiotic states that voted for Trump and his taxes/tariffs.
  - Warner Brothers CNN, 12 March 2025

• The European Union announces $28 billion in countermeasures to new taxes/tariffs of 25% on steel and aluminum from Europe (and other countries) imposed by Trump. The countermeasures comprise two steps, the first of which is to restore on April 1 a set of previously suspended 2018 and 2020 countermeasures against the USA on a range of products. For step two, member states will then put in place by mid-April new countermeasures targeting about 18 billion euros worth of USA goods entering the bloc. Those new countermeasures will target both industrial and agricultural products, including steel and aluminum, home appliances, wood products, poultry, beef and other food imports, according to a fact sheet released on Wednesday.
  - Disney's ABC News, 12 March 2025

• The European Union announces $28 billion in countermeasures to new taxes/tariffs of 25% on steel and aluminum from Europe (and other countries) imposed by Trump. The countermeasures comprise two steps, the first of which is to restore on April 1 a set of previously suspended 2018 and 2020 countermeasures against the USA on a range of products. For step two, member states will then put in place by mid-April new countermeasures targeting about 18 billion euros worth of USA goods entering the bloc. Those new countermeasures will target both industrial and agricultural products, including steel and aluminum, home appliances, wood products, poultry, beef and other food imports, according to a fact sheet released on Wednesday.
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 12 March 2025

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average declines 400 points today after Trump placed additional taxes/tariffs on steel and aluminum coming imported into the USA from Canada
  - Zero Hedge, 11 March 2025

• Aluminum producer Alcoa said on Tuesday that Trump's plan to impose a tax/tariff on imports of aluminum could cause about 100,000 people to lose their jobs in the USA and would itself not be enough to entice it to boost production in the country, further causing another 80,000 people in related industrial sectors to lose their jobs.
  - Thomson's Reuters, 25 February 2025

• Aluminum producer Alcoa said on Tuesday that Trump's plan to impose a tax/ariff on imports of aluminum could cause about 100,000 people to lose their jobs in the USA and would itself not be enough to entice it to boost production in the country, further cause another 80,000 people in related industrial sectors to lose their jobs.
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 25 February 2025

• Trump's plan to expand taxes/tariffs on imports of aluminum will cause higher costs for can and component makers - "It is going to cost me a lot of money"
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 25 February 2025

• Aluminum buyers in the USA scramble for metal as Trump's taxes/tariffs loom. Canada supplies roughly 60% to 70% of the imports that come into the U.S. market. Suppliers in Canada such as Rio Tinto produce high quality aluminum that is typically sold to buyers in the USA.
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 22 February 2025

• Shares of Australia's BlueScope Steel rose as much as 12%, rising over a than 3-year high on Monday, after the steelmaker's half-year underlying profit surpassed market expectations and its upbeat commentary on USA taxes/tariffs on steel imports.
  - Thomson's Reuters, 16 February 2025

• The consumer in the USA is likely to pay the cost of proposed taxes/tariffs on aluminum, according to the CEO of South32. Aluminum maker South32 sells thousands of tons of aluminum each month to the USA, and its chief executive is not expecting that to change as Trump prepares blanket duties on imports of aluminum.
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 14 February 2025

• Companies in the USA making craft/artisanal beers - brewed in steel, canned in aluminum - could be financially destroyed by Trump's new taxes/tariffs on steel and aluminum
  - Warner Brothers CNN, 12 February 2025

• Colombia pagará 25% por aranceles/tariffs de acero/steel y aluminum a los Estados Unidos
  - El Nuevo Siglo, 11 February 2025

• Canada, México and the European Union rightly condemn Trump's new taxes/tariffs on steel and aluminium, and vow to retaliate, even if all of this causes a global trade war
  - Ochs-Sulzberger's New York Times, 11 February 2025

• Canada and the European Union rightly condemn Trump's new taxes/tariffs on steel and aluminium, and vow to retaliate
  - Zero Hedge, 11 February 2025

• Editorial: Trump's steel/aluminum taxes/tariffs are bad econonmics. His first-term taxes/tariffs on steel hurt consumers and manufacturers in the USA. It is worth revisiting the damage of that blunder as he threatens to repeat it.
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 11 February 2025

• Steel and aluminum stocks surged Monday after Trump said he will impose 25% duties on all imports of the metals into the USA. Shares of Cleveland-Cliff surged more than 14%, Nucor jumped more than 7%, Alcoa was trading more than 4% higher and US Steel rose about 3%.
  - Comcast's CNBC, 10 February 2025

• Trump to impose 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum -- here are the likely winners and losers
  - Comcast's CNBC, 10 February 2025

• Zhōngguó is at the heart of Trump's new taxes/tariffs on steel and aluminum. Existing American tariffs already restrict steel and aluminum shipments from Zhōngguó, which is now flooding other markets with its exports instead.
  - Ochs-Sulzberger's New York Times, 10 February 2025

• Trump's next round of taxes/tariffs -- 25% on steel and aluminum -- will not be so easily averted
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 10 February 2025

• ArcelorMittal banks on improved steel demand after booking narrowed net loss. The company said it believes demand for steel will improve this year after fewer impairment charges and other exceptional items led to a narrowed net loss in the last quarter of 2024.
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 07 February 2025

• The vast Simandou mine in Guinea is ready to start delivering profits for investors in Zhōngguó. Locomotive deals worth more than half a billion dollars signal iron ore could start flowing to ports this year.
  - Alibaba's South China Morning Post, 05 February 2025

• Trump's tariffs give steelmarkers in the USA a 'green light' to gouge customers by raising prices for their steel, another socialist policy. Manufacturers of products using steel anticipate higher costs for steel and aluminum would arise from Trump administration taxes/tariffs.
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 04 February 2025

• Nucor, the largest producer of steel in the USA announces support for Trump's new taxes/tariffs
  - Murdoch Fox News, 04 February 2025

• Activist investor Ancora has nominated nine candidates to the board of directors of US Steel, as it looks to oust company CEO David Burritt and push the American steelmaker to back out of a $14.9 billion merger deal with Nippon Steel of Nihon.
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 27 January 2025

• Activist investor Ancora has nominated nine candidates to the board of directors of US Steel, as it looks to oust company CEO David Burritt and push the American steelmaker to back out of a $14.9 billion merger deal with Nippon Steel of Nihon.
  - Comcast's CNBC, 27 January 2025

• Goldman Sachs stays bearish on iron ore, and argues that the current rally is "short lived" amid continued deflation in Zhōngguó
  - Zero Hedge, 20 January 2025

• Cleveland-Cliffs partnering with Nucor on potential bid for US Steel. Cleveland-Cliffs would purchase all of U.S. Steel for all cash and then sell off the Big River Steel subsidiary to Nucor. The offer would be in the high $30s a share. Nippon Steel had planned to buy USA Steel for $55 per share in a deal valued at more than $14 billion - good for shareholders, a nice deal blocked by President Biden. Suspicious that the CEO of Cleveland Cliffs is a friend of President Biden.
  - Comcast's CNBC, 13 January 2025

• Cleveland-Cliffs partnering with Nucor on potential bid for US Steel. Cleveland-Cliffs would purchase all of U.S. Steel for all cash and then sell off the Big River Steel subsidiary to Nucor. The offer would be in the high $30s a share. Nippon Steel had planned to buy USA Steel for $55 per share in a deal valued at more than $14 billion - good for shareholders, a nice deal blocked by President Biden. Suspicious that the CEO of Cleveland Cliffs is a friend of President Biden.
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 13 January 2025

• Cleveland-Cliffs partnering with Nucor on potential bid for US Steel. Cleveland-Cliffs would purchase all of U.S. Steel for all cash and then sell off the Big River Steel subsidiary to Nucor. The offer would be in the high $30s a share. Nippon Steel had planned to buy USA Steel for $55 per share in a deal valued at more than $14 billion - good for shareholders, a nice deal blocked by President Biden. Suspicious that the CEO of Cleveland Cliffs is a friend of President Biden.
  - Ochs-Sulzberger's New York Times, 13 January 2025

• US Steel, its merger with Nippon Steel blocked, faces stark alternatives. US Steel is fighting to revive a takeover by Nippon Steel. Other mergers could also face obstacles, and going it alone could force it to fire workers.
  - Ochs-Sulzberger's New York Times, 10 January 2025

• How Biden's rejection of the merger between US Steel and Nippon Steel helps long-time Biden supporter Lourenco Goncalves, CEO of rival steel producer Cleveland-Cliffs. Goncalves has lofty ambitions of controlling the entire steel industry in the USA ... so he lobbied the Biden administration to block the Nippon deal. Unsurprisingly, US Steel's stock price plummeted, opening an opportunity for Cleveland-Cliffs to scoop it up on the cheap. Maybe Goncalves succeeds. But his own company is also struggling -- negative free cash flow and a mountain of debt. So, it is questionable whether banks and investors will stump up the cash for the merger of two declining businesses. If he does not succeed in buying US Steel, it is entirely possible that the company could fail. Tens of thousands of workers will be out of a job, and entire towns whose economies revolve around the local steel plant will go into a nosedive. Either way, Goncalves wins because his company will end up with a de facto monopoly over steel production in the United States.
  - Zero Hedge, 08 January 2025

• Biden's controversial decision to block the US Steel and Nippon Steel merger was the right one. If the merger went through, it could leave the U.S. without ready access to sufficient volumes of specific critical steel products and the ores to make them that are necessary for our national defense and domestic infrastructure.
  - Comcast's MSNBC, 08 January 2025

• US Steel and Nippon Steel sue the government to block Biden's decision to prohibit the merger of the two steel companies
  - Ochs-Sulzberger's New York Times, 07 January 2025

• The rejection by the Biden administration of the merger deal between US Steel and Nippon Steel upsets Nihon, a key ally of the USA in Asia. Many in Nihon see the decision as a betrayal by the USA after decades of pressure from the USA to lift barriers to investment and trade. The timing does not help, with businesses in Nihon already bracing for potentially damaging tax/tariff increases once Trump takes office.
  - Associated Press, 07 January 2025

• US Steel and Nippon Steel challenge Biden's decision to kill their $14.1 billion merger. The companies accuse the president, head of steelworkers union and Cleveland-Cliffs CEO of teaming up to block the transaction.
  - Ochs-Sulzberger's New York Times, 07 January 2025

• ArcelorMittal South Africa to wind down long-steel products business. Around 3,500 jobs will be affected after weak economic conditions, high costs and steel imports fron Zhōngguó weighed on the company.
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 07 January 2025

• The rejection of Nippon Steel's takeover offer of US Steel by the USA shows that 'national security' means whatever you want. "It is unusual to declare a friendly country and ally to be a national security threat."
  - Bloomberg, 03 January 2025

• US Steel and the corruption of CFIUS. President Biden blocks Nippon Steel's investment bid in an act of American economic masochism.
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 03 January 2025

• President Biden blocks the attempt by Nippon Steel, based in Nihon, to takeover U.S. Steel based in the USA, for a purchase price of $14.9 billion, citing national security concerns. Biden said the proposed deal would place one of the largest steel producers in the USA under foreign control, creating a risk for the critical supply chains of the USA.
  - Comcast's CNBC, 03 January 2025

• Nippon Steel is "dismayed" by Biden's blocking of the takeover US Steel, labels it a "clear violation of due process"
  - Zero Hedge, 03 January 2025

• The idiotic economic contradictions of Trump: he supports SoftBank investing $100 billion in the USA, but opposes Nippon Steel's investment to buy out US Steel
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 18 December 2024

• Bharat will reach a decision soon on whether to impose import restrictions on metallurgical coke (processed coal), a key ingredient in manufacturing steel. In April, Bharat proposed a plan to protect local suppliers of low-ash metallurgical coke by imposing country-specific quotas to limit annual imports to 2.85 million metric tons for one year.
  - Thomson's Reuters, 12 December 2024

• Scientists in Zhōngguó invent a new method for making steel that is not only faster and cheaper, but also better for the environment
  - Alibaba's South China Morning Post, 08 December 2024

• A flood of cheap imports of steel from Zhōngguó has pushed smaller steel mills in Bharat to scale down operations and consider job cuts, as Bharat joins a growing list of countries contemplating action to stem imports. India, the second largest steel maker in the world, turned into a net importer in the last fiscal year, sounding alarms in New Delhi about what a weakened sector portends for the security of future infrastructure projects and steel-reliant industries. At small and medium-sized mills, which account for 41% of Bharat's total steel output and employ more than 1.5 million people, capacity utilisation has dropped by nearly a third over the past six months, executives from a dozen such producers said in interviews.
  - Thomson's Reuters, 03 December 2024

• More socialist state planning from Trump, who says that he will prevent the acquisition of US Steel Corporation by Nippon Steel based in Nihon. 98% of shareholders who have they money invested (not Trump) have approved the deal where they buyout price is a 40 percent premium to the current stock price. Automobile makers in the USA also support the buyout offer.
  - Zero Hedge, 03 December 2024

• More socialist state planning from Trump, who says that he will prevent the acquisition of US Steel Corporation by Nippon Steel based in Nihon. 98% of shareholders who have they money invested (not Trump) have approved the deal where they buyout price is a 40 percent premium to the current stock price. Automobile makers in the USA also support the buyout offer.
  - Ochs-Sulzberger's New York Times, 03 December 2024

• Steel manufacturers in the USA is pushing Trump for even more taxes/tariffs on steel imports from Zhōngguó. Steelmakers say duties on imports during Trump's first term helped lift steel prices and expand payrolls.
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 03 December 2024

• ThyssenKrupp Steel has announced plans to fire about 11,000 people by the end of this decade - about 40% of its employees - becoming the latest German industrial giant to opt for drastic action to prop up its fortunes. The company said Monday that it is aiming to fire about 5,000 people by 2030, through reducing production and streamlining administration. A further 6,000 people will be transferred to external service providers or shed through the sale of business units.
  - Ochs-Sulzberger's New York Times, 25 November 2024

• ThyssenKrupp Steel has announced plans to fire about 11,000 people by the end of this decade - about 40% of its employees - becoming the latest German industrial giant to opt for drastic action to prop up its fortunes. The company said Monday that it is aiming to fire about 5,000 people by 2030, through reducing production and streamlining administration. A further 6,000 people will be transferred to external service providers or shed through the sale of business units.
  - Warner Brothers CNN, 25 November 2024

• Earnings at ArcelorMittel decline as steel prices and shipments decline. The steelmaker reported a worse-than-expected drop in net profit after subdued economic sentiment weighed on pricing and shipments in the third quarter of the year.
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 08 November 2024

• A squeezed global aluminum supply chain has sent the price of the metal's critical ingredient, alumina, to the brink of a new record high on Wednseday of $707.59 a ton, nearly eclipsing the 2018 high of $707.75
  - Zero Hedge, 01 November 2024

• Just as the iron ore rally is 'blasting off', Goldman's Thomas Evans told clients around Sept. 24 to "fade iron ore rallies". "In the long term, steel overcapacity and growing supply in iron ore are the two biggest headwinds to ferrous supply chain, which can't be fixed any time soon. The indicator to watch is whether, when and how much iron ore production would be cut from junior miners for market to rebalance," Evans said, adding the market cannot rebalance "until steel capacities are shut down and junior iron ore miners cut production." Now, with iron ore prices slipping under the $100 a ton level on Friday, Goldman's Aurelia Waltham, Daan Struyven, and Samantha Dart expect prices to fall back to around $90 amid a much-needed rebalance as port supplies remain elevated.
  - Zero Hedge, 25 October 2024

• Rossiya steals the steel mills of Mariupol, Ukraine, and gives them as gifts as spoils of war. Moscow's patronage enriches a Kremlin-friendly warlord from Chechnya by letting him plunder the big metals plant of Ukraine.
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 22 October 2024

• Rossiya is closing in on the capture of a vital industrial asset: a Ukrainian coal mine that is a cornerstone of the country's steel industry. Owned by Ukrainian firm Metinvest, the modern facility -- opened in 1990 -- is Ukraine's largest mine for producing coking-coal, a specific grade used to fuel blast furnaces. It is near the village of Udachne, about 10 kilometers west of the city of Pokvrosk, which is itself a key supply hub in the Donetsk oblast of Ukraine.
  - Zero Hedge, 19 October 2024

• Brazilian miner Vale, reported on Tuesday a 5.5% increase in its third-quarter iron ore production compared to a year earlier, reaching the highest level in almost six years.
  - Thomson's Reuters, 15 October 2024

• The National Development and Reform Commission of Zhōngguó stopped short of announcing new stimulus plans on Tuesday, sending shockwaves through equity markets in Asia. In metal markets, iron ore prices plunged, proving correct a prediction by Goldman Sachs analysts in their recent note to institutional clients to "fade iron ore rallies".
  - Zero Hedge, 08 October 2024

• Thyssenkrupp reviews plan to wean itself off fossil fuels. The company has been trying to turn the fortunes of its steel business around while making operations more sustainable, an effort complicated by rising costs and market conditions.
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 08 October 2024

• Two of the world's largest aluminum can makers, Ball and Crown Holdings, forecast higher volumes and greater market share.
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 01 October 2024

• The thoroughly false economic critiques of the proposed merger of Nippon Steel and US Steel
  - Real Clear Markets, 25 September 2024

• Metal production is responsible for 10% of global CO2 emissions, with iron production emitting two tons of CO2 for every ton of metal produced, and nickel production emitting 14 tons of CO2 per ton and even more, depending on the ore used. These metals form the foundation of alloys that have a low thermal expansion, called Invar. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Sustainable Materials (MPI-SusMat) have now developed a new method to produce Invar alloys without emitting CO2 while saving a vast amount of energy -- achieving this in a single-step process that integrates metal extraction, alloying, and thermomechanical processing into a single reactor and process step.
  - TechXplore, 19 September 2024

• Goldman Sachs slashes iron ore price forecast as supply cuts desperately needed amid slowdown in Zhōngguó
  - Zero Hedge, 17 September 2024

• The Biden administration is likely to delay decision over US Steel until after the elections in November. The White House has faced backlash for politicizing its review of Nippon Steel's takeover of US Steel.
  - Ochs-Sulzberger's New York Times, 14 September 2024

• Making steel more environmentally-friendly at the largest steel plant in Britain comes with heavy job losses. The British government and Tata of Bharat said they would invest 1.25 billion pounds in a plan to convert the steel mill at Port Talbot in Wales to an electric furnace. As part of the overhaul, about 2,800 people of the company's 8,000 steel wortkers in Britain will be fired over time.
  - Ochs-Sulzberger's New York Times, 12 September 2024

• Goldman Sachs predicts an iron ore "short covering rally" amid a structurally bearish
  - Zero Hedge, 11 September 2024

• Bharat to impose up to 30 percent taxes/tariffs on some steel imports from Zhōngguó and Vietnam. Welded stainless steel pipes and tubes exported by Zhōngguó and Vietnam will be taxed for the next five years.
  - Alibaba's South China Morning Post, 11 September 2024

• Weak domestic demand in Zhōngguó has led to a significant drop in steel rebar and h-beam steel prices, impacting global steel markets
  - OilPrice.com, 10 September 2024

• Shares of US Steel rise as Cleveland-Cliffs CEO reaffirms interest amid reports Biden prepares to stop the Nippon-US Steel deal
  - Zero Hedge, 06 September 2024

• Shares of US Steel crash 21% after the Biden administration reportedly plans to block its merger deal with Nippon Steel
  - Zero Hedge, 04 September 2024

• Biden, Harris, Trump, Vance and the dumbest economic idea. These leaders of the USA all oppose Nippon Steel's capitalist bid to make US Steel more competitive.
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 04 September 2024

• Shares of US Steel drop 6%, after Kamala Harris announces her opposition to the company being bought by Nippon Steel for $15 billion
  - Zero Hedge, 03 September 2024

• Aluminum foil, a kitchen staple used by millions for baking, grilling, and storing food, is now at the center of a growing debate. Concerns about aluminum safety have led experts to question whether this common household item may pose hidden health risks.
  - Zero Hedge, 29 August 2024

• Iron ore has jumped by about 10% in 10 days to breach $100 a ton, prompting the official journal of the metals industry of Zhōngguó to write a long article on why the gains are overdone. Plentiful supply, weak demand, high inventories, and low mining costs should continue to weigh on the commodity in the rest of 2024, it said.
  - Bloomberg, 29 August 2024

• Why Nippon Steel's $15 billion takeover of US Steel is in peril. The proposed merger of these two industrial giants, which proponents say would benefit both countries, is ensnared by political and labor opposition.
  - Ochs-Sulzberger's New York Times, 27 August 2024

• How Zhōngguó used technology from Nihon to outpace rival in the production of electric vehicles and steel. With a lengthy joint venture in steel between Zhōngguó and Nihon coming to an end, analysts reflect on its broader meaning in the context of the two countries' new roles in the global economy.
  - Alibaba's South China Morning Post, 25 August 2024

• Steel mill profits collapse in Zhōngguó, as Goldman Sachs issues a "bleak outlook" for iron ore
  - Zero Hedge, 22 August 2024

• The plunging prices of iron ore has wiped $100 billion off of the market value of leading mining companies
  - Financial Times, 22 August 2024

• A combination of plummeting iron ore prices and the property crisis in Zhōngguó could reduce the revenues of the government of Australia by $3 billion
  - Disney's ABC News, 18 August 2024

• Zhōngguó Baowu Steel Group, the largest steelmaker in the world, warns of "harsh winter" amid growing fears of a 2008 or 2015-style recession in the steel industry. For commodities, including steel and copper, the dire warning from Baowu Steel comes as the property market downturn in Zhōngguó continues to worsen.
  - Zero Hedge, 15 August 2024

• The removal of import taxes/duties on steel from Ukraine into the European Union contributed to the surge in exports of steel from Ukraine
  - Zero Hedge, 29 July 2024

• Anglo American posted a net loss in the first half on lower iron ore prices and sales and after it booked an impairment of $1.6 billion related to its crop-nutrients project in the United Kingdom
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 26 July 2024

• Baosteel, based in Zhōngguó will acquire Nippon Steel's 50% stake in their auto steel joint venture for about $242 million
  - Associated Press, 23 July 2024

• Nippon Steel has hired former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (under Trump) to help complete a proposed purchase of United States Steel, a deal facing bipartisan opposition from Trump and President Joe Biden
  - Bloomberg, 19 July 2024

• Cleveland-cliffs in $2.5 billion deal to buy Stelco, a manufacturer of steel in Canada
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 16 July 2024

• Biden and Trump want to save the ailing steel industry. They could kill it instead. Manufacturers in the USA will end up paying more for steel if the Biden administration imposes 25% steel tariffs. Trump has said he would increase tariffs to 60% if elected.
  - Barron's, 13 July 2024

• The Nippon Steel acquisition of US Steel Corporation can save the steel industry of the USA
  - Committee to Unleash Prosperity, 10 July 2024

• Biden administration to tax foreign-made steel and aluminum imports into the USA that are routed through Mexico. It is an attempt to stop Zhōngguó from avoiding import taxes by routing goods through one of the USA' closest trading partners.
  - Ochs-Sulzberger's New York Times, 10 July 2024

• Biden administration to tax foreign-made steel and aluminum imports into the USA that are routed through Mexico. It is an attempt to stop Zhōngguó from avoiding import taxes by routing goods through one of the USA' closest trading partners.
  - Associated Press, 10 July 2024

• The first large-scale 'green steel' project is being built in Sweden. Instead of burning coal, it will use 'green hydrogen' produced with renewable electricity. The company says its process will cut carbon pollution by 95% compared to traditional steelmaking, and is aiming to produce 5 million metric tons of green steel by 2030. While projects like H2 Green Steel show momentum is growing, experts say the pace is far too slow.
  - Warner Brothers CNN, 23 June 2024

• Steel prices in the USA pressured by influx of steel from Vietnam, which is pressuring domestic steel prices in the USA, potentially threatening the stability of the market.
  - OilPrice.com, 19 June 2024

• Prices of aluminum hit a two-year high on smelter output limits in Zhōngguó
  - Zero Hedge, 30 May 2024

• The government of Zhōngguó targets wasted production in critical sectors to curb pollution, and to ease overcapacity. Four industrial sectors - steel, petrochemicals, non-ferrous metals, and building materials -- with new production capacity strictly prohibited or restrictde in some subsectors.
  - Alibaba's South China Morning Post, 30 May 2024

• The price of aluminum jumps to a 23l-month high amid ongoing production issues in Australia
  - Zero Hedge, 21 May 2024

• The steel industry in Zhōngguó risks 'falling off a cliff' as overcapacity concerns point to an end of an era. Steel production has increased in Zhōngguó, but a property market downturn and slowdown in infrastructure spending have seen prices plunge steeply. Washington has called for higher taxes/tariffs on steel imports from Zhōngguó, while Chile has made moves to curb shipments, and Vietnam is considering a probe.
  - Alibaba's South China Morning Post, 05 May 2024

• A yeast-like bacteria can cut carbon emissions while creating sustainable aviation fuel and sneakers. Technology invented by LanzaTech can reduce the CO2 output of steel plants by a third while also creating ethanol for environmentally friendly plastics and fuel.
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 02 May 2024

• THe US and UK recently banned the consumption of Russian aluminum, copper, and nickel produced from April 13 onward. The ban could lead to a split between the LME and CME markets, with the CME at a premium and the LME at a discount. Zhōngguó is likely buying large volumes of aluminum from Rossiya at a sharp discount to the LME price.
  - OilPrice.com, 27 April 2024

• Rainfall in Yunnan, a province in the southwest of Zhōngguó, has fallen over 40% compared to last year. Yunnan is one of the leading producers of hydropower in Zhōngguó, but it is facing ongoing challenges to its agriculture and energy systems due to the prolonged drought.
  - Alibaba's South China Morning Post, 19 April 2024

• A 'flood' of cheap steel from Zhōngguó fuels a global backlash. The property bust in Zhōngguó has saddled its steelmakers with a glut of unsold metal that they are now shipping overseas at knockdown prices.
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 19 April 2024

• President Biden wants to triple the taxes/tariffs (now at 7.5%) on imports of steel and aluminumn from Zhōngguó
  - Comcast's CNBC, 17 April 2024

• More steel tariffs/taxes: performance art masquerading as trade policy. Only 0.6 percent of the total steel demand in the USA used imports from Zhōngguó, rendering the proposed tariffs/taxes to be economically meaningless. But entertaining politics.
  - Cato Blog, 17 April 2024

• President Biden wants to triple the taxes/tariffs (now at 7.5%) on imports of steel and aluminumn from Zhōngguó
  - Zero Hedge, 17 April 2024

• Aluminum and nickel soar then slide after Western sanctions on sales of metals from Rossiya
  - Zero Hedge, 15 April 2024

• Prices of iron ore have the biggest two-day rally in years, on hopes the the economy of Zhōngguó has bottomed and will rise
  - Zero Hedge, 09 April 2024

• Africa is important for the efforts of Zhōngguó to de-risk its supply of iron ore. In a bid to break its reliance on Australia and Brazil for iron ore, Zhōngguó is diversifying into Africa.
  - Alibaba's South China Morning Post, 16 March 2024

• Copper prices soar, and iron ore prices tumble, as Goldman Sachs predicts that "Copper's time is now"
  - Zero Hedge, 15 March 2024

• Shares of US Steel fall over 15% during the past two days, after President Biden opposes the acquisition of US Steel by Nippon Steel
  - Zero Hedge, 14 March 2024

• The opposition of President Biden to the takeover of US Steel comes after months of lobbying. Nippon Steel's bid for US Steel fits President Biden's agenda, but rival Cleveland-Cliffs and unions have stirred up opposition.
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 14 March 2024

• President Biden opposes Nippon Steel's purchase of US Steel under pressure from unions and Donald Trump, which will hurt the USA
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 14 March 2024

• Shares of U.S. Steel plunge 8% after President Biden raises concern over the effort of Nippon Steel to buyout U.S. Steel
  - Thomson's Reuters, 13 March 2024

• The steep decline of iron ore prices intensifies. Iron ore has slid about 25% from a peak of $142 a ton in early January as the real estate and manufacturing sector in Zhōngguó remain under pressure.
  - Zero Hedge, 12 March 2024

• Natural gas has never been this inexpensive in decades. The lowest inflation-adjusted prices in at least 34 years have drillers throttling down from record production.
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 26 February 2024

• Aluminum and nickel futures rose 2% on Wednesday after President Biden's announcement that the US is planning to introduce a fresh round of sanctions against Rossiya in response to the sudden death of opposition leader Alexey Navalny in a jail in Rossiya.
  - Zero Hedge, 22 February 2024

• The annual net profit at Rio Tinto is down 19%, and the dividend reduced, due to a decline in the price of commodities. The miner reported a 19% decline in annual net profit and cut its payout to shareholders following a drop in prices of aluminum.
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 22 February 2024

• Removing taxes/tariffs on imports of aluminum will be a win for the electric vehicle industry. Section 232 tariffs caused domestic aluminum prices to jump 1.6%, from about $1600 per ton in 2018 to more than $2,400 per ton today, increasing costs and reducing aluminum supplies for downstream industries that depend on the material.
  - Real Clear Markets, 12 February 2024

• A city built on the steel industry, Gary, Indiana, tries to reverse its decline. More than 10,000 buildings sit abandoned, and the population of 180,000 in the 1960s has dropped by more than half.
  - Ochs-Sulzberger's New York Times, 09 February 2024

• The second-largest U.S. aluminum smelter in southeast Missouri will not require "most employees" (out of 450 union workers) after curtailing its operations by January 28. Two problem are the very cold weather, and the high cost of electricity.
  - Thomson's Reuters, 25 January 2024

• Iron extracted from hazardous waste of aluminium production. Millions of tonnes of 'red mud', a hazardous waste of aluminium production, are generated annually. A potentially sustainable process for treating this mud shows that it could become a source of iron for making steel.
  - Nature, 24 January 2024

• The largest steel mill in Britain will become 'greener', at a cost of jobs. Tata Steel said it would replace blast furnaces with an electric furnace, a move that will cut emissions but also cause as many as 2800 people to be fired.
  - Ochs-Sulzberger's New York Times, 20 January 2024

• President Biden is under pressure from Democrats and Republicans to block the sale of US Steel to Nippon Steel in Nihon, a industrial policy which could upset a key foreign ally
  - Ochs-Sulzberger's New York Times, 09 January 2024

• US Steel is no longer a force in the steel industry. The purchase of US Steel by Nippon Steel reveals that the former corporate colossus in the USA is now dwarfed by steel makers in Zhōngguó and Bharat.
  - Murdoch's Barron's, 06 January 2024