Last week the United Steelworkers and other unions filed a Section 301 petition seeking US government action against China over its employment of subsidies and other market- distorting measures that they blame for the hollowing out of the US commercial shipbuilding industry. Given US- China animus and election- year politics, the petition's timing is auspicious. Indeed, two senators have already announced their support and both President Joe Biden and US Trade Representative Katherine Tai have highlighted the filing on social media. The complaint, however, is hypocritical, ahistorical, and--most of all--misplaced. While there is no doubt that China engages in market- distorting practices, they have little explanatory power for the US shipbuilding industry's enfeebled state.
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- United States of America
