The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) may launch a renewed Buy Australian Steel campaign, despite political dismissal of such protectionism moves.
The AMWU has been agitating for use of locally produced steel in infrastructure projects earmarked in the government spending package, in order to maximize the creation or preservation of Australian jobs, mirroring the proposed protectionism being touted in the US stimulus package.
The unions say the revived campaign would aim to combat the rising local unemployment rate, which was recorded at 4.8 percent in January 2009, with estimates it will climb to seven percent by the middle of 2010.
The Australian Federal Government has passed an AUD 42 billion ($28 billion) stimulus package with no clauses specifying only Australian materials can be used in infrastructure projects.
Kevin Rudd, Prime Minister of Australia, has resisted calls from the steel industry for the inclusion of a ''Buy Australian'' clause in the federal government's stimulus plan, in a move that may have averted the start of an economic war.
Critics of the "Buy Local" campaigns claim any such moves would start a slippery slope to the bottom, as other countries adopt similar trade barriers to protect their own economies. However, supporters claim trade protectionism is a small threat, since government consumption makes up only a tiny fraction of worldwide trade.