Five US steel associations in a joint statement have claimed that China should removes measures that will boost steel exports, such as export rebates and subsidies and urged US government to take active countermeasures against China's steel trade policy.
The protest came shortly after China's announcement that it would cancel export duties on some steel products.
Chinese experts explained that the country's steel industry mainly focuses on meeting domestic demand and exports only take a minor proportion. Besides, export rebates go in line with international convention and should not be classified as subsidies.
United Steelworkers Union, American Iron and Steel Institute, Steel Manufacturers Association, the Specialty Steel Industry of North America and the Committee on Pipe and Tube Imports also urged the U.S. government to take countermeasures in the statement. According to the statement, China should stop subsidizing its redundant, low efficient and heavy polluting steel industry while the US government should strengthen law implementation to combat unfair trades and resist China's illegal action that violates WTO trade rules as well as its efforts in evading US anti dumping laws.
In fact this is not the first US complaint against China's subsidy on steel sector. The two countries have been trying to solve the issue through dialogues yet the frictions continue. AISI once criticized in a report that China's steel industry won government of over USD 52 billion in the past decade. But China declared that there is no convincing evidence.