One day after Trump slammed Canada with a lumber tariff, somehow managing to send lumber future prices limit down on the CME, he is faced with another, far more credible crisis: the terrible guidance just released by US Steel (X) in particular, and the fate of the US Steel industry - and China's adverse impact - in general.

Here is the bloodbath just reported by US Steel:

• Loss per share $1.03
• Adj. loss/share 83c
• Net Revenue $2.73b, est. $2.95b
• EBITDA $74m, est. $254.7m

But it was the company's guidance that was the real shocker:

• 2017 net earnings of approximately $260 million, or $1.50 per share, more than 50% below the prior forecast of $3.08, and below the sellside estimate of $3.05
• Adjusted EBITDA of approximately $1.1 billion; also far below consensus of $1.39 billion

And the cherry on top: the terrible guidance was in the context of a generally optimistic outlook. This is what the company said:

Commenting on U. S. Steel's Outlook for 2017, Longhi said, "Market conditions have continued to improve, and we will realize greater benefits as these improved conditions are recognized more fully in our future results.This remains a cyclical industry and we will not let favorable near-term business conditions distract us from taking the outages we need to revitalize our assets in order to achieve more reliable and consistent operations, improve quality and cost performance, and generate more consistent financial results. 

Well, if X cuts EPS by 50% in "improving" market conditions, one wonders what EPS would look like if conditions were actually worse.

Surprisingly, the word China was not used once in the press release, when it is quite clear that is China's aggressive exporting and dumping of steel that is causing US-based steel makers to see their stock trade as follows...

This is the lowest level for X since the day after Trump was elected.

Will Trump dare to respond to what is truly a malicious trading practice by China? Somehow we doubt it, which is why Canada may want to be really careful - the country is rapidly emerging as a scapegoat for Trump's China-directed impotence.