Senators Urge Administration to Continue Engaging China on Steel Overcapacity
Twelve senators wrote a bipartisan letter (here) urging President Barack Obama to continue efforts to secure Chinese commitments to reduce its steel capacity to an acceptable level, after meetings this year of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development Steel Committee, U.S.-China Steel Dialogue, and Strategic and Economic Dialogue produced no definitive assurances. Led by Ohio Sens. Rob Portman (R) and Sherrod Brown (D), the senators said a dialogue-only approach won’t succeed in eliminating the global oversupply of steel, and said trade enforcement should be a major part of addressing the issue, while acknowledging that ongoing diplomatic talks are important.
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“The antidumping and countervailing duty cases on steel products have helped to stem the flood of foreign steel imports,” the senators wrote. “But the systemic problems remain a threat to our steel workers, and the trade cases will not resolve them.” The lawmakers urged the administration to consider “all options” to boost China’s compliance with World Trade Organization obligations pertaining to steel, including bringing a case with other countries against China and halting Bilateral Investment Treaty talks. Diplomatic pressure hasn’t changed Chinese government subsidy policies, state-owned enterprise involvement in the free market and access to “free capital” that allows failing steel companies to overproduce, the senators said. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative will host a public hearing Oct. 5 on China’s compliance with its WTO commitments.