I am so thankful for President Donald Trump's
America-first policy, for without those steel tariffs the Iron Range
would have been shut down and another generation of Rangers would have
been forced to leave home.
Who can
forget three years ago, "the Dark Christmas," when Iron Range
steelworkers were fighting for extended unemployment benefits, their
cries only getting lip service from Washington; some Rangers were making
plans to leave home.
President
Trump gets elected, steel tariffs are imposed, all go back to work, and
recently the steelworkers settled on a new four-year contract with a 14
percent wage increase. Absolutely beautiful!
It has been a night-and-day difference between the Trump administration and the administration of President Barack Obama.
With
the sad reality of today's world economy, Iron Range taconite producers
are facing the challenges of the 1980s again — only worse: Australian
iron ore production is now at 500 million tons per year; compare that to
the Iron Range's production of 40 million tons. It is as if Australian
producers are harvesting iron ore like an Iowa farmer going through a
cornfield with a combine.
In addition, oceangoing carriers' capacity is 400,000 tons compared to a laker at 80,000 tons.
And
then you have China, which overbuilt its steel-manufacturing
facilities; couple that with poor environmental standards and
governmental subsidies, and no one in the free world can compete against
them.
Yes, the American steel industry needs protection
against those foul and unfair forces. Where would our great nation be
without a steel industry?
I thank President Trump from
the bottom of my heart. He has done more for the well-being of the
people of the Iron Range than any other nationally elected official in
the last 40 years.
Matt Matasich
Virginia, MN
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I live in the Iron Range area of Northern Minnesota. The above opinion is common up here. For decades Democrats championed the causes of iron workers, steel workers, miners, and the economy created by the iron and steel industries. At the risk of pissing off my neighbors, I'd rather Trump was gone. Every dark cloud has a silver lining. Our local economy is doing just fine, thank you. Like most Americans these people vote their pocketbooks. They will vote for Trump again, or anyone who supports the policies that have brought financial health back to this area.
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