it's one thing for the government to buy steel from local producers and use it in government projects. that's ok. it may not be the decision the market would make, and it may not be the most efficient use of taxpayer dollars, but it is a decision by local government to subsidize local industry. the items being made are not going to be sold on any sort of a market, so it sort of doesn't matter. it's a handout to industry.

it is another thing to tell the local real estate market or the local automobile sector - which the media is not even mentioning - that it has to pay 30% or 90% more for steel by buying locally because it is no longer able to access resources at more competitive prices. that is going to lead to massive increases in the prices of the goods that are going to have gigantic markups, and in sectors that we can't afford to see that happen in.

the right approach is to allow foreign steel manufacturers to import steel at lower prices for goods being sold as commodities and to subsidize local industry by prioritizing local contracts in government building. that saves the jobs (which i don't think are that valuable, but whatever. that's government policy i disagree with.) without creating tremendous inflationary pressure in key, specific sectors that we need prices to come down in. that means you ban foreign companies (including american companies!) from competing on government contracts, but you don't put tariffs on the general import of foreign steel. i strongly oppose the latter measure, as it will create absurd amounts of inflation.

as it is, i don't particularly care about building weapons for nato. that's not on my priority list. my priority list is building more housing. this policy is going to hurt canadians and help american military planners in washington. 

it's so blatantly stupid that it's almost treasonous.