US lawmakers take aim at China’s trade practices

WASHINGTON - A bipartisan group of lawmakers is introducing legislation on Feb 24 to toughen US trade enforcement laws and address the impact of Chinese-supported companies moving portions of their production to other countries to circumvent American duties.

Republican Senator Todd Young of Indiana and Democratic Senator Tina Smith of Minnesota are leading a group of more than a dozen senators introducing the legislation.

The Bill seeks to give the US Commerce Department new tools to address concerns about China’s trade practices and its Belt and Road Initiative, a Chinese international infrastructure project aimed at boosting trade and connecting Asia, Europe and Africa.

“China has distorted the free market by dumping undervalued products and subsidising industries, actions designed to harm American businesses and workers,” Mr Young said in a statement.

A companion Bill is being introduced in the US House of Representatives.

“For too long, foreign competitors like China have engaged in unfair trade practices that have undermined domestic industry and threatened our national security,” Ms Smith said.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately comment.

The American Iron and Steel Institute praised the Bill for “addressing the growing problem of cross-border subsidisation where foreign governments subsidise industries, like steel, not only in their own countries but in other countries as well”.

The Bill authorises the Commerce Department to apply the countervailing duty law, which allows the government to target specific products from individual countries, to transnational subsidies.

The legislation would also toughen anti-dumping rules, set specific deadlines for anti-circumvention inquiries, ensure the law can be applied to currency manipulation and aim to address imports of goods like kitchen cabinets from China.

Two weeks ago, US President Donald Trump substantially raised tariffs on steel and aluminium imports to a flat 25 per cent. The tariffs are set to take effect on March 4.

Data showed US aluminium smelters produced just 670,000 tonnes of the metal in 2024, down from 3.7 million tonnes in 2000. Steel imports accounted for about 23 per cent of American steel consumption in 2023.

While China exports only tiny volumes of steel to the US, it is responsible for much of the world’s excess steel capacity, according to the US.

American steel companies say subsidised production in China forces other countries to export more and leads to Chinese steel being shipped through other countries into the US to avoid tariffs and other trade restrictions. REUTERS