President Biden understands — and his administration has so far owned up to — trade policy mistakes made by past Democratic administrations. That alone will align him closer to his Republican predecessor than any recent commander in chief, especially as he considers preserving a decisive action to defend the American steel industry.
It will make him unlike Bill Clinton, whose failure to respond to the Asian financial crisis and surges of steel imports led to dozens of plant shutdowns and bankruptcies 20 years ago; he instead left the problem to the Bush administration, which offered relief very late in the game. It will also make him unlike Barack Obama, whose overreliance on dialogue and industry-led trade enforcement to counter overproduction problems in China amounted to too little, too late – and helped lead to another solvency crisis for domestic steelmakers.
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