The steel industry died a long time ago. My dad helped disassemble the corpse. It died because corporate profiteers offshored everything and stole the pensions.
What is a "corporate profiteer"? Are you trying to ensure we don't confuse it with "corporate benevolence"?
Corporations do what's economical. The Chinese have a very robust and growing steel sector, and it's all run by profiteers. When the US had a huge steel industry it was run by profiteers then as well.
Today, turning iron ore into rolled steel isn't one of America's comparative advantages anymore. Even despite major protectionism. There are no evil bad guys here. It's the nature of economies as they grow and develop. The US was once good at low level manufacturing, now it's bad and uneconomical at that and better at more advanced engineered products and services.
Some comparative advantages are more useful than others. The country that’s the world leader in energy and industry can bomb the shit out of the country that’s the world leader in dating apps. (China and the US aren’t there yet, it the trajectory is apparent, unless it’s derailed by China’s demographic collapse.)
Corporate profiteers were expanding the steel industry throughout the late 19th and early 20th century. What changed in the 20th century is labor law that gave unions a monopoly over their employer's bargaining options. It predictably led to rent extraction, declining performance and unsustainable collective bargaining agreements.
The issue isn't about unions. In 2021, Germany was the third-largest exporter of iron and steel globally, with extreme levels of unionization had exports worth $32.8 billion. The real factor at play is mercantilism. Major steel-exporting nations, including China, often provide subsidies and protection for their steel industries.
Andy Grove said it best:
"All of us in business have a responsibility to maintain the industrial base on which we depend and the society whose adaptability—and stability—we may have taken for granted."
Looking at the chart, the US, Europe and Japan have fairly stable numbers actually. The thing that’s most notable is the explosion in Chinese steel production.
I think what's even more notable is that the EU, US, and Japan protect their steel industries at great expense. Billions of dollars per year. Yet Chinese steel is still profitable and competitive.
Of course this is a contributing factor but it can’t be a full explanation. There were times when many other places had low environmental standards and cheap labor. There are plenty of countries now, too. Andrew Carnegie used this to his advantage before the EPA was even a glimmer in anyone’s eye. But even Carnegie’s steel corp was never as dominant.
