You’d think that the two countries would tone down the rhetoric and avoid these kinds of decisions (when possible) since Obama will be in China later this month. I sense that the atmosphere might get a bit tense.

Anyway, here’s what happened late this week:

China slammed new US tariffs on Chinese steel goods Friday and launched its own probe into US car imports as a tit-for-tat trade tussle escalated just a week before a visit by US President Barack Obama.

China’s commerce ministry harshly criticised as “protectionist” a US announcement Thursday that Washington had imposed anti-dumping tariffs of up to 99 percent on imports of some Chinese steel products used in the oil industry. (AFP)

But wait, there’s more:

On Friday, China said it had launched a probe into alleged dumping and unfair subsidies involving imported US “sedans and off-road vehicles with an engine size of 2.0 litres or above.”

China said in September that its domestic auto industry had requested that the ministry look into the matter, but the government had not given specifics about the products in question until now.

The US ITC has been busy, as usual, with China-related action. The following were also announced yesterday:

The U.S. International Trade Commission voted 6-0 to back the Commerce Department’s investigation into allegations Chinese and Indonesian companies are selling coated paper used for magazines and greeting cards at unfairly low prices.

It also approved an investigation of charges Chinese producers are “dumping” three types of salts in the United States, but excluded a fourth category from the probe.

Finally, the panel rejected by a vote of 6-0 an investigation into charges China and Taiwan were dumping certain standard steel fasteners in the United States. (Reuters)

The timing of this is not great, but the ITC action looks like business as usual. Unfortunately I fear that these kinds of decisions will get lumped in with Obama’s (completely optional) decision to impose duties on US imports of Chinese tires.

At the moment, the rhetorical battles are where the action is, and any trade action will definitely get people talking before, during and after Obama’s China visit.

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 7th, 2009 at 10:36 pm and is filed under International Trade, U.S.-China Relations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.