Has the trade war between China and the United States been initiated?
A preliminary finding from the U.S. Department of Commerce alleges that corrosion-resistant steel imports from China were sold at unfairly low prices and will now be taxed as an astonishing 256 percent.
The federal department confirmed in a statement Tuesday that imports from India, Italy and South Korea will be taxed at a lower rate, while imports from Taiwan and Italy’s Marcegaglia SpA will not face such tariffs.
An array of U.S. producers, such as Steel Dynamics Inc., U.S. Steel Corp. and Nucor, submitted cases this past summer accusing manufacturers from the aforementioned countries of dumping their products in the U.S. They say this hurts domestic companies.
It was later discovered that the government of all those countries, excluding Taiwan, subsidized their domestic production as high as 236 percent of its price.
“We’re concerned that the dumping that’s occurring is at higher levels than these determinations reflect,” said Tim Brightbill, a partner at Wiley Rein LLP, a law firm representing U.S. steelmaker Nucor Corp., in an interview with Bloomberg News. “We have serious concerns that these preliminary duties are not enough at a time when unfairly priced imports continue to surge into the U.S. market at unprecedented rates.”
The business news outlet continues the story:
“The government found dumping margins of 3.25 percent for most South Korean steel imports, with Hyundai Steel Co.’s shipments subject to duties of 3.5 percent. Imports from Italian companies excluding Marcegaglia will be taxed at 3.1 percent. Indian imports are subject to duties from 6.6 percent to 6.9 percent.”
China’s Ministry of Commerce has yet to respond to these exorbitant tariff rates.
It can be safe to assume that Donald Trump would give the OK to such a move.
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