Steel War

A film by David Syz and Georges Böhler

Not many political issues have generated so much dissent throughout the world as the globalization of trade. Millions of people benefit from the cheap prices of products manufactured in low-wage countries. The system seems to work in a satisfactory way for some, but are the badly paid workers subsidizing the situation? Steel War uses the recent conflict over the worldwide steel market, dominated by the U.S., Brazil and the European Union, to explore this kind of "economic war."

This cogent film shows how globalization functions in reality, with countries fighting for jobs, market share, and political power. Experts in economics such as Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Prize Laureate and Professor for Economics and Finance, Columbia University, and Susan George, an anti-globalization expert, discuss the history and function of the World Trade Organization in relation to the steel war. High officials from many other countries are also interviewed.

The U.S. Undersecretary for International Trade and the President of the Steel Workers Union explain why the American steel industry and American labor felt threatened by competition from Brazil. As a result, Pres. Bush instituted a protectionist policy. Brazil and the European Union objected and brought their complaint to the World Trade Organization (WTO) which made a judgment against the U.S. They ordered the U.S. to change its policy within fifteen months.

Prof. Stiglitz explains that it is up to each government to consider not only their own workers' security but also the larger picture beyond their borders. There could be an international labor problem, if millions of under-educated young people increase the ranks of the unemployed, creating a potentially explosive situation.

58 min. Video or DVD. Sale $295. Video rental $85.