On December 9, local time in Geneva, the World Trade Organization (WTO) expert group issued a report on the WTO dispute (DS544) between China and the U.S. Steel and Aluminum 232 tariff measures, ruling that the relevant U.S. measures violated WTO rules and rejected the U.S. invoking the WTO security exception clause pleas made. The China Iron and Steel Industry Association and the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association expressed their high appreciation and firm support for the objective and fair ruling made by the expert group.
China’s iron and steel industry and aluminum industries have always been the core goals of meeting domestic demand and achieving high-quality development. China’s exports of steel and aluminum products to the United States do not account for a high proportion and the quantity is not large. The trade and cooperation between the industries of the two countries is based on the strong complementarity of the steel and aluminum industries of China and the United States and are completely based on the principle of fair marketization. The United States has caused damage and benefited downstream customers, which has played a role in promoting the development of related fields in the United States.
Since 2010, China’s steel and aluminum industries have begun to eliminate outdated production capacity, and since 2016, they have implemented supply-side structural reforms and significantly reduced steel and electrolytic aluminum production capacity. Up to now, China’s steel and aluminum industry has been strictly controlling new production capacity, and at the same time set a capacity ceiling. The reform has achieved remarkable results and effectively promoted the healthy and sustainable development of the world’s steel and aluminum industry.
Since March 23, 2018, the United States has imposed additional tariffs of 25% and 10% on imported steel and aluminum products on the grounds of safeguarding national security. Due to the violation of WTO rules, this measure was not only opposed by many WTO members but also widely criticized in the United States.
The ruling of the WTO expert group solemnly proves that the United States is practicing unilateralism and protectionism in the name of national security, seriously undermining the rules-based multilateral trading system. China’s steel and aluminum industries hope that the United States will respect the ruling of the expert group and the rules of the World Trade Organization, correct the violations as soon as possible, cancel the 232 tariffs, and work with China to create a good international steel and aluminum trade environment and order, and jointly maintain the multilateral trading system.
