Trump orders probe which could lead to curbs on Chinese steel imports

US President Donald Trump has ordered a comprehensive investigation of steel imports that could result in broad restrictions on imports of steel from China.

The investigation will determine the extent to which Chinese steel imports have undercut the ability of domestic producers to meet increasing demand from US military equipment manufacturers, US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told reporters in Washington DC.

The domestic steel industry is running at 71 per cent of capacity while foreign imports account for 26 per cent of the domestic steel market, Ross said.

Li Hongmei, a Singapore-based steel sector analyst at S&P Global Platts, said official data showed that the US is by no means a core export destination for China’s steel, with yearly export volume being no more than a couple of million tonnes to the US, compared with China’s total 2016 steel export amounted to 108 million tonnes .

In a blog (thehill.com), Joe Innace, content director of metals, Americas for energy and commodities information provider S&P Global Platts,

said “it’s just impossible to avoid buying foreign steel because certain products and grades are not produced in the US, or supply is limited.”