Country warns of retaliation after fresh US trade probe
The investigation into imports of aluminium sheet worth hundreds of
millions of dollars a year was an unusually aggressive move by the
United States.
China on Wednesday warned it would take the "necessary measures" to protect its businesses after the United States launched a new trade probe into China's possible aluminium dumping.
The investigation into imports of aluminium sheet
worth hundreds of millions of dollars a year was an unusually
aggressive move by the United States.
For the first time since 1991, the US Commerce
Department said it launched the investigation on its own initiative,
rather than responding to a request from a US company.
"This practice by the US side is very rare in the history of international trade," China's Ministry of Commerce said in a statement.
"China expresses strong dissatisfaction towards the tendency of trade protectionism displayed by the United States."
The US Commerce Department said Tuesday it opened
the probe into possible dumping and inappropriate subsidies of common
alloy aluminium sheet from China, which may be harming US industry.
"President Trump made it clear from day one
that unfair trade practices will not be tolerated under this
administration, and today we take one more step in fulfilling that
promise," Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in a statement.
"We are self-initiating the first trade case in
over a quarter century, showing once again that we stand in constant
vigilance in support of free, fair and reciprocal trade."
The US imported more than $600 million of
aluminium sheet from China last year. The product, used in building and
construction, transportation and making appliances, may benefit from
subsidies and may be sold in the US market below cost, the statement
said.
The government could retaliate by imposing punitive import duties on the Chinese aluminium.
China's Commerce Ministry said the aluminium trade was mutually beneficial to China and the US.
"Man-made obstruction to the normal aluminium
trade will harm the interests of both China and the US," the statement
said, which was attributed to Wang Hejun, the director of the trade
remedy and investigation bureau.
China said it would adopt the "necessary measures
to protect the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises",
but did not detail what those measures would be.
Washington's use of the rare tactic capped a
series of adversarial manoeuvrers on trade with China, and came shortly
after President Donald Trump's two-week trip to Asia this month, which
included a stop in Beijing.
Among the steps taken was the Trump
administration in April launching national security investigations into
Chinese imports of aluminium and steel, warning that they threatened to
undermine producers crucial to US defence needs.
Trade cases rise under Trump
The US also has slapped punitive duties on
imports of Chinese aluminium foil and plywood, and announced earlier
Tuesday it had done likewise for imports of Chinese-made tool chests and
cabinets.
Trump rose to office on a nationalist economic
agenda, squarely blaming alleged unfair Chinese trading practices for US
job losses and economic hardship -- part of a combative overall stance
that has focused upending prevailing trade policies to reduce deficits.
The Trump administration has launched 65 percent
more trade investigations than the final year of the Obama
administration, with 79 opened compared to just 48 in 2016, according to
the Commerce Department.
The last time the Commerce Department
self-initiated a countervailing duty case was 1991, on Canadian softwood
lumber -- a dispute that continues. The last self-initiated
anti-dumping investigation was into Japanese semiconductors in 1985.
The department said it acted based on information
suggesting import prices for the Chinese alloy aluminium sheets "may be
less than the normal value" and production of the material may have
been unfairly subsidised, the statement said.
"The department also has evidence that imports of
common alloy sheet from China may be materially injuring, or
threatening material injury to, the domestic industry producing common
alloy sheet in the United States," the department said.
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