Champions can wait

14 December 2009 By Wei Gu

Steel tariffs and buy China technology policies aren’t just revenge against the U.S. China once traded market access for foreign knowhow and capital. Now promoting domestic champions looks a bigger priority. It could backfire, as China is not yet ready to strike out on its own.

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The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and business groups from Canada, Europe and Japan laid out their concerns over China's new "Indigenous Innovation Product Accreditation" system in a letter last week to top Chinese officials. The programme, outlined in a government circular on Nov. 15, implicitly encouraged the government procurement markets to buy more lowcost domestic products.

China last week said it will impose antidumping duties of up to 25 percent on imports of speciality steel from the United States and Russia. The action follows a number of U.S. steel industry trade cases against China that have prompted Beijing to accuse the U.S of protectionism.

The tonnage involved in China's latest trade dispute 75,000 tons is less than a tenth of a percentage point of the Chinese market. China's daily crude steel output reached a record in September despite a slump in export demand. November total crude steel output was up 37 percent than last year.

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