Human Rights: America’s New Name for Protectionism

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil -- U.S. lawmakers have again fallen for a steel industry propaganda campaign.

The cause this time is a news article that rehashed what has been known for years about the inhumane conditions of charcoal workers in Brazil. Charcoal is used to make pig iron, which is transformed into any number of consumer goods for sale in the United States.

Every several years, usually around election time, the United States steel industry stirs up its lobby in an effort to close the U.S. market to foreign competitors. Democrats and Republicans are both subject to the barrage of this big-money lobby.

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