Lane Hanson
Duties on Chinese steel have increased by 500% after a spat between the US and China on Wednesday led to a quick increase in the cost of importing the product.
Chinese cold-rolled steel is used to make appliances, cars, and electric motors. The cost of importing the steel occurred following a ruling by the US Department of Commerce.
“China is extremely dissatisfied with this decision,” the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement. “China urges the U.S. to strictly abide by World Trade Organization guidelines and correct its mistake as quickly as possible.”
Last month, U.S. Steel accused dozens of Chinese producers of breaking trade rules, and asked the U.S. International Trade Commission to investigate.
China steel accounts for more production than Japan, Russian, the European Union and the US combined.
Demand for the product has drastically decreased because of economic conditions around the world. Beijing has recently been accused of dumping its unwanted metal on other markets which have caused the closure of plants and the loss of thousands of jobs.
Beijing is cutting 500,000 jobs to stop over production at its own plants.
In comparison to the US, the EU has also imposed a tariff of up to 13% on Chinese imports.
China’s cheap imports has been a key talking point of the current Presidential election cycle.
“We can’t continue to allow China to rape our country, and that’s what they’re doing,” Trump said during a speech earlier in the month.
US officials have not yet responded to calls from China to lower the 500% duty increase.
