Critical Reasoning

The imposition of quotas limiting imported steel will not help the big American steel mills. In fact, the quotas will help "mini-mills" flourish in the United States. Those small domestic mills will take more business from the big American steel mills than would have been taken by the foreign steel mills in the absence of quotas.

Which of the following, if true, would cast the most serious doubt on the claim made in the last sentence above?

(A) Quality rather than price is a major factor in determining the type of steel to be used for a particular application.

(B) Foreign steel mills have long produced grades of steel comparable in quality to the steel produced by the big American mills.

(C) American quotas on imported goods have often induced other countries to impose similar quotas on American goods.

(D) Domestic "mini-mills" consistently produce better grades of steel than do the big American mills.

(E) Domestic "mini-mills" produce low-volume, specialized types of steels that are not produced by the big American steel mills.

The right answer should provide evidence against the argument that mini-mills will take more business from the big American mills than foreign mills would have taken in the absence of a quota. In other words, the answer should lead us to think that without the quota, the foreign mills would be a significant threat to the big American mills.

I go through each answer choice in the full solution below (taken from the GMATFix App).



-Patrick