China trade body vows legal action over ‘unreasonable’ US Section 301 probe into Chinese shipbuilders, maritime firms

The US trade office has launched a probe into the Chinese maritime, logistics and shipbuilding sectors over ‘unfair trade practices’

China’s trade promotion body CCPIT calls move ‘discriminatory’, blames ‘lack of competitiveness’ for US shipping industry downturn

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President Joe Biden, who has called for tripling the tariffs on Chinese steel, speaks at the United Steelworkers Headquarters in Pittsburgh on April 17. Photo: TNS

Published: 8:08pm, 21 Apr 2024

China’s trade promotion body has said it will take legal action to defend Chinese shipbuilding, logistics and maritime companies affected by the latest US Section 301 investigations, calling the trade probes “unreasonable” and “discriminatory”.

The China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) will “arrange for companies from the upstream and downstream supply chains to attend the hearings in the US in order to legally defend the rights of Chinese companies,” a spokesman said.

Section 301 investigations aim to determine whether a foreign government’s policies or acts are discriminatory, and whether they burden or restrict US commerce.

A White House fact sheet on the launch of the investigations last week cited “growing concerns that unfair Chinese trade practices, including flooding the market with below-market-cost steel, [were] distorting the global shipbuilding market and eroding competition”.

The downturn in the US shipping industry was due to its own “lack of competitiveness” and had nothing to do with China, the CCPIT spokesman said.

US President Joe Biden last Wednesday called for tripling the tariff rate on Chinese steel and aluminium – from 7.5 per cent to 22.5 per cent – just as the US Trade Representative’s (USTR) office announced the launch of the Section 301 probes under the Trade Act of 1974.