More Steel Tariffs: Performance Art Masquerading as Trade Policy

Earlier today, the White House called on the US Trade Representative to "consider" tripling the existing Section 301 tariffs on Chinese steel. The administration says the tariffs are necessary because China unfairly subsidizes its high- emissions steel producers, which undercuts cleaner American steel producers and workers. Yet closer examination reveals the move to be far more about politics than unfair practices (despite the administration's assertions to the contrary). It is true that China subsidizes its domestic steel industry, but very little of that steel ends up in the United States due to our aggressive use of tariffs, i.e., more than five dozen trade remedies (antidumping and countervailing duties) measures, the Trump- Biden "national security" tariffs on most steel and aluminum imports, and the Section 301 tariffs on a wide range of Chinese imports. As Bloomberg notes, thanks to these measures China "accounted for just 600,000 metric tons of steel imports in 2023, [...] out of a total US steel imports of 25.6 million tons"--or a mere 2.3 percent of all steel imported into the United States last year.