JAPANESE STEEL COMPANY CAUGHT FAKING DATA

     Nearly every American---with the exception of Wall Street and the Swamp-RINOs---favors President Trump's goal of bringing back American-made products. Foreign money not only helped bankroll the Deep State and cost American jobs; it has flooded our market with cheap, inferior goods. And many Federal agencies have uncovered several instances of actual cheating on America's own laws.

       The Japanese Empire, a country that has never apologized for starting WW2 but whose money buys massive influence in the US, is one of the worst offenders. Japan's third-largest steel manufacturer, Kobe Steel, confessed that it has been falsifying data on strength and durability of its metal products for over a decade. The Boeing Corporation is one of the US' largest customers of Kobe Steel; as are Japanese vehicles Toyota and Honda. British readers should note that Hitachi---who builds some of the railway equipment there---used Kobe Steel in British trains. 

        The scandal has been another blow to the Imperial Cabinet; especially since Prime Minister Abe was an executive at Kobe Steel before entering politics. 

        This case is by no means atypical of Japanese business practices. During the Obama Administration, automotive airbag manufacturer Takata was caught manipulating safety tests on airbags. This led to a massive recall on 42 million vehicles and seven known US traffic fatalities. In 2016, Mitsubishi and Suzuki were found faking fuel-economy tests. 

      It's not only product safety, but the Japanese have caused problems in the financial markets as well. Again during Obama's term, Olympus and Toshiba were found to be lying about their profit-margins which inflated their stock-value at a huge loss to US investors. 

       Part of this problem is rooted in Japanese Culture. Their well-known contempt for foreigners and fanatical nationalism leads to attitude that doesn't put much pride in export quality. The Kobe Steel scandal is another reason why we need to pursue policies that encourage manufacturing here once again. 

      But whenever this issue comes up among Republicans, the Swamp-RINOs immediately object claiming that free-trade is impaired. Actually, it's not free-trade in any sense of the word when foreign producers drive American producers under with unfair trade practices. The RINOs though, like their friends the Democrats, only believe in competition when they have an unfair advantage. 

       As of 2017, there are only eight steel plants producing in the US, employing a mere 150,000 workers. We export 11 million tons of steel per year and import 39 million. Clearly, this situation has to change. President Trump and Commerce Secretary Ross announced that they would be working on a comprehensive plan to revive the Steel Industry last Summer; hopefully this scandal in Japan will spur on support for the plan.