Learning from Trump's steel tariffs

When Joe Biden's ambassador to Prague, Bijan Sabet, first visited Ostrava in mid-Sept. 2023, he told Blesk that he was absolutely fascinated by the transformation of the city and the Moravian-Silesian region. "It used to be talked about as an industrial area," he said, "while now I see a lot of greenery, clean streets and interesting opportunities for business and study." That was the green-eyed view of the Biden administration. Sabet's nominated successor, businessman Nicholas Merrick, will no doubt see things differently. His future boss, Donald Trump, is adjusting imports as a way to "protect America's critical steel and aluminum industries" and of "achieving sustainable capacity utilization of at least 80%." There's also a distinct security aspect: "The United States does not want to be in a position where it would be unable to meet demand for national defense and critical infrastructure in a national emergency." Sometimes there's method to Trump's madness. Americans need steel. So do Czechs.