US slaps China steel imports with fivefold tax increase
Wednesday, May 18, 2016
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| A worker at a steel wholesale market in Liaoning Province, ChinaImage copyrightGETTY IMAGES |
VietPress USA (May 18, 2016):
US slaps China steel imports with fivefold tax increase
Source: BBC News (http://www.bbc.com/news/business-36319141).
China's steel firms are being accused of
selling products in other countries at unfair prices.
The US has raised its import duties on
Chinese steelmakers by more than fivefold after accusing them of selling their
products below market prices.
The taxes of 522% specifically apply to
Chinese-made cold-rolled flat steel, which is used in car manufacturing,
shipping containers and construction.
The US Commerce Department ruling comes amid
heightened trade tensions between the two sides over several products,
including chicken parts.
Steel is an especially sensitive issue.
US and European steel producers claim China
is distorting the global market and undercutting them by dumping its excess
supply abroad.
The Commerce Department also levied
anti-dumping duties of 71% on Japanese-made cold-rolled steel.
The politics behind the move - Karishma
Vaswani, Asia Business correspondent, BBC News
The ruling itself is only directed at what is
a small amount of steel from China and Japan and won't have much of an impact -
but it is the politics of the ruling that's worth noting.
It is an election year, and US presidential
candidates have been ramping up the rhetoric on what they say are unfair trade
practices by China.
US steel makers say that the Chinese
government unfairly subsidises its steel exports.
Meanwhile China has been
under pressure to save its steel sector, which is suffering from over-capacity
issues because of slowing demand at home.
China's Ministry of Finance has not directly
responded to the US ruling but on its website this morning it has said that
China will maintain its tax rebate policy for steel exports as part of its
efforts to help the bloated steel sector recover.
These tax rebates are seen as favourable
policies to shore up ailing steel companies in China, and to avoid massive job
losses. Expect more fiery rhetoric from the US on China's unfair trading
practices soon.
A separate filing by major US steelmakers to
the International Trade Commission is looking to completely ban all Chinese
steel imports.
The US steel industry claims that some 12,000
workers have been laid off in the past year because of unfair Chinese
competition.
China claims the weak economy is more
responsible for the industry's problems and that it has taken steps to reduce
its steel production.
Last year, China's exports of cold-rolled
steel flat products to the US were valued at an estimated $272.3m (£188.5m).
BBC News
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