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American Morning
Minding Your Business: George W. Bush, Man of Steel
Aired November 11, 2003 - 07:53 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Steel tariffs might not sound like one of the major issues on President Bush's desk, but a trade war could be in the offing and it might test the president's political metal.
Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business" this morning.
Nice to see you. Good morning.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Nice to see you. I like that political metal.
O'BRIEN: It's all over tariffs.
SERWER: Yes.
O'BRIEN: You like that?
SERWER: I did.
O'BRIEN: Get it? Steel, metal?
SERWER: Yes, yes.
It is all over tariffs, Soledad, I'm sorry, and it really puts the president in a bind. Here's what happened. Yesterday, the World Trade Organization Court in Geneva ruled that tariffs that the U.S. was imposing on steel imported into this country -- that's foreign steel coming into this country -- were illegal. And if the president did not remove them by December, it would start to impose tariffs on U.S. goods exported to the European Union.
This has huge implications for the president and for the U.S. economy in the months ahead. And, as I said, it's going to give the president real pause here, and he's got to figure this out.
Let's take a look at some of the goods that potentially would be impacted here. Now, so let's review. The European Union would put tariffs on these American goods that are manufactured here and sent abroad. What does that mean for the American public? Well, that means if you work at a company that produces these goods that could hurt sales of these items -- here are some more items -- because they'd be more expensive in Europe. OK, that's No. 1. So, it could hurt you and your job.
Also, U.S. consumers, it could hurt you, too, because if these companies sell less overseas, that means they might have to raise prices here. OK? That's how it could hurt U.S. consumers.
Why doesn't the president simply get rid of steel tariffs? Well, because he put the steel tariffs in to help companies in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan, key swing states. So, it has a lot of political ammunition as well and a very complicated issue. The president and his advisers are obviously going to be going over this very carefully over the next couple of weeks.
O'BRIEN: Yes, clearly. Now give us a preview of the markets this morning.
SERWER: The markets are not doing so well. We really retreated over the past couple of days. The futures are down again this morning. I really think the mutual fund scandal is starting to weigh in on the psychology of the stock market. You can see yesterday the Dow down 53 points. The Nasdaq down even more on a percentage basis. And the scandal just keeps growing, and we've talked about that, and it's not something that Wall Street likes very much.
The markets are open this morning even on the holiday.
O'BRIEN: Even on the holiday.
SERWER: Right. The bond market is closed, the stock market is open.
O'BRIEN: Andy, thank you.
SERWER: Oh, you're welcome.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired November 11, 2003 - 07:53 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Steel tariffs might not sound like one of the major issues on President Bush's desk, but a trade war could be in the offing and it might test the president's political metal.
Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business" this morning.
Nice to see you. Good morning.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Nice to see you. I like that political metal.
O'BRIEN: It's all over tariffs.
SERWER: Yes.
O'BRIEN: You like that?
SERWER: I did.
O'BRIEN: Get it? Steel, metal?
SERWER: Yes, yes.
It is all over tariffs, Soledad, I'm sorry, and it really puts the president in a bind. Here's what happened. Yesterday, the World Trade Organization Court in Geneva ruled that tariffs that the U.S. was imposing on steel imported into this country -- that's foreign steel coming into this country -- were illegal. And if the president did not remove them by December, it would start to impose tariffs on U.S. goods exported to the European Union.
This has huge implications for the president and for the U.S. economy in the months ahead. And, as I said, it's going to give the president real pause here, and he's got to figure this out.
Let's take a look at some of the goods that potentially would be impacted here. Now, so let's review. The European Union would put tariffs on these American goods that are manufactured here and sent abroad. What does that mean for the American public? Well, that means if you work at a company that produces these goods that could hurt sales of these items -- here are some more items -- because they'd be more expensive in Europe. OK, that's No. 1. So, it could hurt you and your job.
Also, U.S. consumers, it could hurt you, too, because if these companies sell less overseas, that means they might have to raise prices here. OK? That's how it could hurt U.S. consumers.
Why doesn't the president simply get rid of steel tariffs? Well, because he put the steel tariffs in to help companies in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan, key swing states. So, it has a lot of political ammunition as well and a very complicated issue. The president and his advisers are obviously going to be going over this very carefully over the next couple of weeks.
O'BRIEN: Yes, clearly. Now give us a preview of the markets this morning.
SERWER: The markets are not doing so well. We really retreated over the past couple of days. The futures are down again this morning. I really think the mutual fund scandal is starting to weigh in on the psychology of the stock market. You can see yesterday the Dow down 53 points. The Nasdaq down even more on a percentage basis. And the scandal just keeps growing, and we've talked about that, and it's not something that Wall Street likes very much.
The markets are open this morning even on the holiday.
O'BRIEN: Even on the holiday.
SERWER: Right. The bond market is closed, the stock market is open.
O'BRIEN: Andy, thank you.
SERWER: Oh, you're welcome.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
