Chinese steelmakers were on the brink of Tuesday after U.S. President Donald Trump signed a set of executive orders overnight.
Trump, who has raised a 25% steep tax on all imports of two metals in the United States, said “no matter what the exception or exemption is…wherever they come from.”
Trump eliminated state exceptions and quota deals with one of his orders, as well as tens of thousands of product-specific tariff exclusions for two metals.
Also on AF: As Beijing's tariffs begin
Trump also implemented a new North American standard that requires steel imports to “melt, pour in” and “smelting and casting” aluminum within the region to curb the U.S. imports of minimally processed Chinese and Russian metals, thereby avoiding other tariffs .
These measures will come into effect on March 4.
Asian countries are not one of the top suppliers of metals in the United States. Still, stocks from steel makers in the region, including South Korea, India and Japan, have been wasting since Monday, when reports of planned tariffs first emerged.
Chinese steel manufacturers joined the list on Tuesday, listing on the shares of the country's major steel manufacturers.
Jiangsu Shagang Co's Baoshan Iron and Steel, HBIS CO, Angang Steel, Angang Valin Steel Co, Shandong Iron and Steel Co, shares fell 0.14% to 2.63%.
The steel price on the Shanghai Futures Exchange ended daytime trading, losing losses, while the CSI Steel Index fell 0.52%.
Focus on transit trade
While China exports only a small piece of steel to the United States, according to Washington, it is responsible for much of the world's excess steel capacity.
It said subsidized production in China forces other countries to export more and leads to the transfer of Chinese steel to the United States through other countries to avoid tariffs and other trade restrictions.
Transport trade is at the heart of Trump's announcement of tariffs. The New York Times on Monday.
“In the long-term to long term, this is bad news for the global steel market, as the reduction in U.S. steel imports will eventually reach trade,” said Pei Hao, senior analyst at International Brokerage Freight Investor Services (FIS). flow.”
A manager of an East China-based steelmaker requested anonymity, warning that “it takes time to show the impact on the market.”
“The bad news has not started yet, so we need to be ready from now on.”
New tariffs could bring more uncertainty to China's steel exports, which are already suffering from growing trade tensions.
Last year, strong steel export rates reached a nine-year high of 117.2 million tons, helping China offset the decline in domestic demand amid the ongoing economic crisis.
However, China's direct exports to the United States are only 890,000 metric tons, accounting for 0.8% of the total.
- Reuters, other editors and inputs with Vishakha Saxena
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