During the time between when President Bush decided to use economic statecraft and when he eventually relinquished his hard-line stance, a variety of factors influenced foreign policy of the greatest superpower in the world, the United States. In order to fully understand the complexity of the power struggle, it is helpful to focus on this conflict of interests from different levels of analysis. Since the matter was never formally voted on by the legislative branch, it seems the most logical place to begin our analysis would be at the decision-making level, where President Bush found himself in a difficult situation to say the least.
             Many of Bush's critics believe that the President exaggerated the impact of cheaper foreign imports on our steel industry to gain support in key political battleground states such as West Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. While perhaps he viewed swaying those crucial votes as icing on the cake, it seems unlikely that the primary reason for the tariffs was to get re-elected. And, even if he did win as a result of the tariffs, President Bush would have to risk fueling anti-American sentiment throughout the world.
             Cheap foreign steel, particularly in high quantities, undoubtedly had an adverse effect on the U.S. Steel industry by flooding the market, which in turn decreased demand and value. Protecting the steel industry after some of the U.S.'s top steel producers filed for bankruptcy does not appear suspiciously political. In fact, had the President failed to act in the defense of the steel industry at all, it may have seemed that he was neglecting a major industry. The number of workers employed in steel-consuming industries far outnumber the number who work for the steel industry itself, forcing the President to reassess his decision. Despite the WTO's ruling that the tariffs were illegal, Bush was still able to accomplished his primary objective, which was ultimately to provi...