[quote]China’s move is likely to anger UK steelworkers and unions, who blame the country for much of the industry’s recent troubles
China has risked raising tensions over its role in the UK steel crisis by imposing a 46% import duty on a type of high-tech steel made by Tata in Wales.
The Chinese government said it had slapped the tariff on “grain-oriented electrical steel” imported from the European Union, South Korea and Japan. It justified the move by saying imports from abroad were causing substantial damage to its domestic steel industry.
Tata Steel, whose subsidiary Cogent Power makes the hi-tech steel targeted by the levy in Newport, south Wales, was unable to say on Friday whether any Cogent products are exported to China.
News of the tariff emerged as David Cameron confronted the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, on the sidelines of a summit dinner in Washington on Thursday night, urging him to use Beijing’s presidency of the G20 group of leading countries to tackle the problem.
Asked if Cameron raised concerns about British job losses from Chinese steel dumping, a senior government source said: “He highlighted his concerns, yes.” The source added: “He made clear the concerns that we have on the impact this is having on the UK and other countries.”
British politicians have been accused of pandering to China by [url=http://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/feb/10/david-cameron-accused-failing-uk-steel-industry-blocking-eu-lesser-duty-proposal] blocking new tariffs on Chinese imports to the EU[/url], a measure designed to prop up Europe’s struggling steel industry.
The tariff move by the People’s Republic is likely to anger steelworkers and unions, who blame China for much of the industry’s recent troubles. Steel firms say one of the key reasons for the UK industry’s woes is that state-subsidised firms in China are “dumping” their product on the European market, [url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/22/chinese-steel-production-abandoned-mills-broken-lives]due to flagging demand at home[/url].
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We're getting killed on trade.
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Edited by Naughty Mr: 4/2/2016 10:14:30 PMThat's what happens when we shackle ourselves to Brussels, the UK had no problem using the common market. The majority of Europe say that if the UK leave, they would still happily trade, although Merkel is trying her utmost to persuade otherwise. At the moment we can't afford to compete, money we should be using to bolster our trade is going to Brussels, at no advantage to ourselves. As you've said "we're getting killed on trade".