If United States President Donald Trump was aiming at China with his lofty proposed tariffs on imported steel and aluminium, he is a terrible marksman. Not only will Chinese leaders likely brush off the measures, but they also have good reason to embrace them.

China is unquestionably the big, bad wolf of the global steel industry. With roughly 10 times the steelmaking capacity of the US, it has been widely accused of dumping cheap steel on global markets, pushing competitors in other countries to the wall.