Move to protect US steelmakers is against norms of world trade

Announcing that the United States will investigate whether foreign steel imports harm the country's national security, US President Donald Trump and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross have sent an unmistakable message to the big US steelmakers that they will protect them.

National security is rightly a top priority for any country, so it would be understandable if the Trump administration was taking the move to close any potential national security loopholes. But it is not.

Trump on Thursday revealed that the move had been taken simply to help bring back manufacturing jobs to the US, one of his key campaign promises.