US President calls for increased duties on steel and aluminum from China

US President Joe Biden will insist on raising import duties on steel and aluminum from China under Section 301 to protect American industry, Bloomberg reports.

At a meeting with members of the United Steelworkers trade union in Pittsburgh, Biden will urge U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai to raise tariffs on products that are currently subject to duties ranging from 0% to 7.5% to 25%. At the same time, duties on products already subject to a 25% tariff will not be changed.

In addition, Catherine Tai will launch a formal investigation into unfair practices in the Chinese shipbuilding industry following a petition from the United Steelworkers.

At the same time, Bloomberg writes that the duty increase will affect a fairly small segment of the US market: the value of Chinese steel and aluminum imports in 2023 was less than $1.7 billion.

«The president understands that we must invest in American manufacturing, but we also must protect those investments and those workers from unfair exports related to China’s overcapacity,» Lael Brainard, director of the National Economic Council, told reporters.

In 2014, Chinese imports of steel products to the United States reached almost 3 million tons, but in 2023, supplies from China amounted to only 600 thousand tons (worth $900 million) against a total import volume of 25.6 million tons. In addition, last year, the US market received 200 thousand tons of Chinese aluminum (worth $750 million), with a total supply of 5.46 million tons.

In March, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) once again called on Congress to take steps to update US trade remedy legislation. According to steelmakers, it is not keeping pace with the efforts of China and other countries to circumvent import duties.