On December 9 local time in Geneva, the dispute panel of the World Trade Organization (WTO) issued a report on the dispute filed by China against the United States on Steel and Aluminum Import Tariff Program under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 (DS544), ruled that the relevant measures of the United States violated WTO rules, and rejected the defense that the United States invoking  WTO national security exceptions. China Iron and Steel Association and China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association highly appreciate and firmly support the objective and fair verdict made by the panel.

    China's steel and aluminum industries have always been committed to meeting domestic demand and achieving high-quality development in the mean time. China's export of steel and aluminum products to the United States is small in quantity, accounting for a small proportion of the total import of the latter. The trade and cooperation between the industries of the two countries is based on the strong complementarity, fully following the fair and market principles. It has not brought any injury to, but benefited the downstream customers and promoted the development of relevant fields in the United States. China's steel and aluminum industries have been working hard to eliminate backward capacity since 2010, and implementing supply side structural reform since 2016 to significantly reduce steel and electrolytic aluminum capacity. Up to now, China's steel and aluminum industries have been strictly curbing new production capacity, and have set up a capacity ceiling. The reform measures have achieved remarkable results, strongly promoting the healthy and sustainable development of the world steel and aluminum industries.

    Since March 23, 2018, the United States has imposed import tariffs of 25% and 10% on imported steel and aluminum products with the excuse to safeguard national security. As an apparent violation of WTO rules, This program was not only opposed by many WTO members, but also widely criticized in the United States.

    The ruling of the WTO panel tells clearly that the United States, in the name of national security, practicing unilateralism and protectionism, has seriously damaged the multilateral trading system based on rules. China's steel and aluminum industries hope that the US side shall respect the panel's ruling and WTO rules, correct the illegal measures as soon as possible, cancel the 232 tariff, and work with the Chinese side to create a good international steel and aluminum trade environment and order, and jointly protect the multilateral trade system.

Source: Website of China Iron and Steel Industry Association