New US duties on Chinese tin mill steel are opposed by American business group

US Commerce Department plans to impose anti-dumping duties of 122.5 per cent on Chinese tin mill products

But Consumer Brands Association official says such duties will raise prices on canned goods and might lead to job losses in the US

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The US Commerce Department is seeking anti-dumping duties on tin mill steel from China used to make the containers for canned goods. A US trade group opposes the duties. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 6:42am, 23 Jan 2024

A leading US business group is seeking the elimination of duties on tin mill products from China and three other countries, warning that the extra costs would raise consumer prices and might also lead to domestic job losses.

Tin mill steel is used to make containers for canned goods like beans, soups and sodas, as well as products like hairsprays.

“The concern from a can-maker’s perspective is that if you make a finished can, for example, in Mexico – perhaps using Japanese steel, or Chinese steel or somebody else’s steel – and then import the finished empty can to the US, it’s not subject to the same tariffs,” Tom Madrecki, a vice-president at the Consumer Brands Association, contended.

“It imperils US manufacturing jobs in the end,” he added.

White House National Economic Council director Lael Brainard claimed that research indicated a “wave of cheap, subsidised imports from China wiped out nearly one million manufacturing jobs”. Photo: EPA-EFE

This month, the US Commerce Department said that after a year-long investigation it was imposing anti-dumping duties of 122.5 per cent on tin mill steel imported from China. In addition, all Chinese steelmakers were also asked to pay more than 300 per cent in anti-subsidy duties.

Producers from South Korea, Canada and Germany were also assessed levies, but at much lower rates: 2.69 per cent, 5.27 per cent and 6.88 per cent, respectively.