U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping earlier than a assembly in the course of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders’ week in Woodside, California, Nov. 15, 2023.
Brendan Smialowski | Afp | Getty Images
China stated it “firmly opposes” the U.S. investigation into its maritime, logistics and shipbuilding industries, calling the move a “mistake on top of a mistake.”
In an official statement late Wednesday, China’s ministry of commerce stated the U.S. supplies lots of of billions of {dollars} in “discriminatory” subsidies to its home industries, “yet accuses China of adopting so-called ‘non-market practices.'”
“In fact, the development of China’s industries is the result of companies’ technological innovation and active participation in market competition,” the Chinese ministry stated.
On Wednesday, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative initiated a probe into China’s maritime, logistics and shipbuilding industries, alleging that Beijing used “unfair, non-market policies and practices” to dominate these sectors. Under the Trade Act of 1974, Section 301 seeks to deal with unfair overseas authorities practices impacting U.S. commerce.
“By launching a new Section 301 investigation, the U.S. is making a mistake on top of a mistake,” the China’s commerce ministry stated.
Beijing known as on the U.S. to “respect multilateral rules” and vowed to “take all necessary steps to resolutely defend its rights and interests.”
The investigation comes as 5 nationwide labor unions launched a petition on March 12 requesting the U.S. to probe the insurance policies and practices of China’s maritime, logistics, and shipbuilding sectors.
U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Katherine Tai has pledged to launch a “full and thorough investigation into the unions’ concerns.”
“The allegations reflect what we have already seen across other sectors, where [China] utilizes a wide range of non-market policies and practices to undermine fair competition and dominate the market, both in China and globally,” she stated, based on the USTR assertion.
President Joe Biden has additionally known as on the USTR to triple tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum imports , in a bid to guard American industries.
“Chinese policies and subsidies for their domestic steel and aluminum industries means high-quality U.S. products are undercut by artificially low-priced Chinese alternatives produced with higher emissions,” the White House stated in a statement.
In an address to union workers in Pittsburgh on Wednesday, Biden accused China of “cheating” in its metal commerce practices.
“They’re not competing. They’re cheating,” he stated, including that “we’ve seen the damage here in America.”
“The bottom line is that I want fair competition with China, not conflict.”
Deborah Elms, head of commerce coverage on the Hinrich Foundation, stated the Section 301 investigationcould be extra important than Biden’s name for tariff hikes on Chinese metal and aluminum imports.
The complete quantity of Chinese metal into the U.S. market is lower than 1%, Elms instructed CNBC’s “Capital Connection” on Thursday.
She stated the launch of a Section 301 investigation on shipbuilding “is becoming more of an issue potentially.”
“Now, that could be much more significant because it sets up the stakes for further retaliation by the U.S. against China, and then potentially by China against the U.S.,” stated Elms.
“As we head into a very tight election season, both parties [Democrats and Republicans] are competing in the U.S. to see who could be toughest on China.”