Pittsburgh, pennsylvania. The President of the United States had chosen the heart of this “Rust Belt”, ravaged by deindustrialization after having made the national industry great until the 1970s, to launch, Wednesday April 17, an attack on Chinese steel dumping. And a new charm offensive towards a working class won by Donald Trump’s speech in a pivotal state (swing State) for the presidential election on Tuesday, November 5.
From the headquarters of the steel workers’ union, Joe Biden announced his desire to triple taxes on this metal (and aluminum) imported from China, today at 7.5%. The country, which provides almost half of world production, floods the markets with its enormous surpluses, with basic products at prices half those of American steelmakers; or with its manufactured goods (cars, wind turbines, etc.) made from steel. All while displaying a poor carbon footprint, insists the White House.
“I want competition with China, not conflict”, declares Mr. Biden on X, reaffirming to the unions his desire to involve them in the defense of “made in America”. This policy also involves its hostility to the sale of US Steel to the Japanese Nippon Steel, “an emblematic company for over a century” and that “must remain totally American”. He said he was ready, like Mr. Trump, to block the operation currently being examined by the federal commission on foreign investments.
Permanent and all-round pressure
Since 2016, the peril of Chinese steel has become a campaign posture. Not without a good dose of opportunism, even cynicism, in the president candidate’s speech on Japan and China. Nippon Steel is certainly Japanese, but the archipelago is an unwavering ally of the United States. As for the Chinese threat, it does not exist, if we are to believe the data from the Census Bureau, the “American INSEE”: the United States imports very little Chinese steel (3% of its purchases); and even 2.1%, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute.
But Washington has decided to exert permanent and all-out pressure on China. The “war of steel” is nothing compared to the “war of chips”. In the name of national security, Washington is doing everything to deprive Beijing of the latest generation semiconductors, including by twisting the arm of its own allies.
Mr. Biden reaffirmed this to his Chinese counterpart, accusing him of wanting to use them “for the wrong reasons”. Xi Jinping believes that it is for the best: to become the leading economic, technological and military power in 2050. A Chinese dream, an American nightmare.