The U. S. Commerce Department on Friday recommended imposing heavy tariffs on China, Russia and other countries to counter a global glut in steel and aluminum which it says threatens national security. The move gives President Donald Trump the opportunity to strike a highly public blow for his “America first”
The U. S. Commerce Department on Friday recommended imposing heavy tariffs on China, Russia and other countries to counter a global glut in steel and aluminum which it says threatens national security.
The move gives President Donald Trump the opportunity to strike a highly public blow for his “America first” trade policy, but raises the prospect of retaliation from countries targeted and was sure to stoke fears of a trade war.
In two reports submitted to the president last month and made public on Friday, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross laid out an array of possible options, including a tariff of at least 24 percent on all steel imports worldwide, and a similar tariff on aluminum imports from China, Russia and three other countries.
Other options would impose either high tariffs or quotas on steel and aluminum imports.
Ross told reporters the principal question was whether cheap imports impaired US national security by making domestic production unviable.
“I have determined that they do,” he said.
Ross said typical U. S. trade actions against dumping and illegitimate subsidies had failed to address market oversupply, particularly by China, because “Serial offenders can evade these orders by transshipment through another country, with or without additional processing.”
Trump has until mid-April to decide what remedies to impose, if any, and Ross acknowledged that any US action is likely to be challenged by exporting nations in the World Trade Organization, Ross said.
