China puts metals into retaliatory duty frame while Trump trade war intensifies
Date: Sep 18, 2018
The Chinese government is poised to directly target the US non-ferrous metals and ore sector in the tit-for-tat trade war launched by US President Donald Trump.
Beijing has highlighted metals and ores in a list of products that may be subject to retaliatory tariffs to the United State’s third list of duties on Chinese tech, drafted over alleged thefts of US intellectual property.
The US Trade Representative (USTR) had said in August it was consulting on plans to increase existing 10% duties on Chinese tech exports to 25%. In response, Beijing said it would impose more retaliatory duties on US exports worth $60 billion.
Instead, the US imposed 10% tariffs on a further $200 billion of Chinese exports on Tuesday September 18.
According to a list of products released by China’s Ministry of Commerce, these could include refined and unrefined copper, and relayed alloys (such as brass), powders, plates, sheets, foil, tubes and wire; unalloyed nickel, including powder, flake powder, wire cloth and mesh; aluminium alloy, plus pure aluminium powder, wire, plates, sheets, strips, foil, tubes, cans and belts; lead alloys, including unwrought lead-bismuth alloy, lead sheets and foils; uncalcined zinc; unwrought zinc alloy, zinc and zinc alloy strips, rods, profiles and filaments; unwrought non-alloyed tin, tin and tin alloy strips, rods, profiles, wire, plates, sheets and strips; unwrought molybdenum and molybdenum waste, plus molybdenum rods, profiles, sheets, foil and wire; tantalum powder; unwrought magnesium and graded magnesium crumb, scraps, granules, and powder.
