‘Iowa-Grown’ Steel Under Threat by Tariffs

The recently imposed tariffs on imported steel and aluminum will almost surely help steelworkers in Detroit, at least in the short term. However, there are other, oft-forgotten “steelworkers” who will inevitably lose out. To explain what I mean by “oft-forgotten steelworkers” and why they’ll lose out, let’s dive into the story of the Iowa Car Crop, originally laid out by David Friedman and retold by Steven Landsburg in his book The Armchair Economist. Almost everyone is vaguely familiar with how steelworkers in Detroit manufacture steel. In factories, they use smelters, and various other industrial machines. However, there is a second, rather counterintuitive way to make steel which very few people have considered. Every year, farmers in Iowa (and elsewhere) plant, grow, and harvest their own version of the Iowa Car Crop. While there is nothing unique about the crop, farmers take their harvest and deliver it to a warehouse on the coast. Then…

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