Tariff Wars: US Penalises Aluminum Imports From China

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Aluminum and glossy paper manufacturers had claimed that an undervalued currency acted as a subsidy for Chinese producers allowing them to undercut American competitors.

The Commerce Department rejected these arguments.

The petition became a cause celebre of sorts with American manufacturers as the Treasury Department refused to escalate matters with the Chinese by dubbing them as currency manipulators.

US Congressional lawmakers have been pressing hard to introduce legislation that would compel the Commerce Department to act in this regard and recognise China’s currency manipulation, if it fails to act on its own.

“The Commerce Department made its finding while still managing to ignore the elephant in the room, which is China’s currency manipulation,” Senator Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, said yesterday in a statement. “Once again, even when the opportunity is thrust into its hands, the administration has refused to take action.”

Commerce department officials said the complaints were rejected as China’s currency policy wasn’t “specific to the enterprise or industries being investigated.” Read more here.