Beijing has vowed to retaliate against the Trump administration’s 25% global levy on all steel and aluminum imported into the U.S., saying it will do what it takes to protect its interests.
“China will take all necessary measures to defend its legitimate rights and interests,” Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said Wednesday in response to a reporter’s question on the tariffs at a briefing.
The Trump administration’s 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports have already sparked retaliation from the European Union. The trading bloc announced countermeasures against the U.S. early Wednesday that could affect U.S. exports valued at about $28 billion, equaling the value of EU exports affected by the U.S. tariffs.
Beijing didn’t specify what action it would take in response to the latest tariffs, but its approach to Washington’s trade policy under Trump so far has been targeted, with tariffs aimed strategically at goods including agricultural products and trade restrictions imposed on some U.S. companies.
While China is the world’s largest steel producer and exporter, it isn’t a major supplier of the product to the U.S., with levies imposed during the first Trump administration squeezing most Chinese steel out of the U.S. market.
Analysts at S&P Global Ratings expect U.S. tariffs on China’s steel products to have a limited direct impact, but think that the country’s steelmaking industry is still in for further pain.
“Indirect effects may arise from the tariffs imposed on key importing countries and downstream sectors at home,” they wrote in a report.
China’s property-sector bust has saddled Chinese steelmakers with a glut of unsold metal, pushing them to flood overseas markets with the commodity at ultra-competitive prices that have prompted countries to fight back with antidumping investigations.
S&P Global thinks China’s struggling steel sector could be facing the start of an export slump as early as the second quarter, noting tariff action from its two largest export markets: Vietnam and South Korea.
Write to Singapore Editors at singaporeeditors@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 12, 2025 05:50 ET (09:50 GMT)
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