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Defending U.S. Steel Industry

President-elect Donald Trump could not have come at a better time for what is left of the Ohio Valley steel industry.

Nearly all of it is history. But last week, it was announced part of the former RG Steel plant in Mingo Junction — once a gigantic complex — has been sold by its current owner, Frontier Group.

The new owner, ACERO Junction, reportedly is composed of a group of steel companies. They plan to resume making steel in Mingo Junction.

Details of the proposal are sketchy. Reports of the re-started plant employing as many as 300 people have been heard, however.

That is wonderful news for many Ohio Valley families, as well as local governments whose finances have suffered from steel mill closures during the past couple of decades.

Undoubtedly, negotiations on the sale have been in progress for months. Yet it is interesting the announcement came less than a month after Trump was elected president.

One of his campaign promises — and one reason he won Ohio — was to safeguard American workers against unfair competition from China.

Trump is not the first politician to make such a promise, of course. For years, holding rallies with trusting steelworkers was a standard strategy among many seeking office.

But the situation regarding China is like no threat American steel companies and their workers have ever faced.

During the past 20 years, a key aspect of Beijing’s domestic policy has been to build new steel mills.

In 1996, Chinese mills produced about 100 million metric tons of steel annually. Now, output is about eight times that.

Just 20 years ago, China was responsible for about 15 percent of world steel output. The figure now is 50 percent.

Keeping workers at all those new mills employed has meant China has used unfair trade tactics ranging from outright dumping to currency manipulation. That has hurt steel industries in other countries throughout the world, including ours.

So Trump’s promise to curb use of unfair trade tactics by China is especially interesting to Ohio Valley residents — and now, an immediate priority.

During the past three decades, tens of thousands of area steelworkers and their families have been disappointed bitterly by the failure of politicians to keep their word. Let us hope Trump is more serious about keeping his promises.

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