US Introduces Up To 301% Tariff On Steel Products From China

The United States is introducing a new tariff of up to 301.64% on steel products from China.

The US Department of Commerce has tentatively approved anti-dumping duties on imports of ironmongery from China, which are intended to compensate imports at a price below cost or current domestic market prices of an exporting foreign company. In 2018, the United States imported approximately $ 88.8 million from collapsible steel staples from China.

Currently, the US Customs and Border Protection Service is collecting cash deposits for the importation of steel hardware from China that has been determined to be discarded at a price below fair market value in the United States. The US Department of Commerce will make a final decision on the case on or around May 19, and the US International Trade Commission will make a final decision on injuries on or around July 2 to announce whether US manufacturers have been adversely affected and the tariff justified.

"If the Department of Commerce approves the final dumping decision, and the International Trade Commission approves the final determination of the damage, the Department of Commerce will issue an anti-dumping order," the US Department of Commerce said in a press release. "If the Commerce decides a final negative dumping decision or the International Trade Commission decides a final negative injury decision, the investigation will be dropped and no order will be issued."

In addition to the general 25% tariffs on most steel imports imposed by the administration last year, the US Department of Commerce is currently imposing 511 tariffs on selected imported products, which were set in court proceedings to reduce below fair value in violation of international trade. law is or is subsidized by grants, loans, capital injections, tax breaks, or production costs that US manufacturers do not receive.

More than 200 of these tariffs are imposed on steel products at a time when there is a worldwide surplus of government-sponsored excess steel production capacity of hundreds of millions of tons worldwide.

According to the World Steel Association, international steel production more than doubled from 936 million tonnes in 2000 to over 1.97 billion tonnes in 2018. This is largely the result of China's steel production increasing sevenfold from 142 million tonnes in 2000 to nearly 1 billion tonnes last year, which alone accounted for more than half of global production, a historically unprecedented increase in the number of trade associations. become. in all