China’s anti-dumping moves involve propionic acid, WhatsApp and Threads
For every action there is a reaction and, if Biden intends to triple the duties on steel and aluminum from China, Beijing has announced the first anti-dumping measures. Here's which ones and how they will impact
In response to the latest measures adopted by Washington against Chinese companies and the intention of the American president, Joe Biden, to triple the duties on steel and aluminum imported from Beijing, China has gone on the counterattack by announcing its first anti-dumping measures.
These concern the import of propionic acid from the United States, to which – again in an anti-US perspective – is also added the removal of WhatsApp and Threads from the app store in China.
THE WASHINGTON DUMPING BETWEEN PRESENTS…
It will be the atmosphere of the election campaign or the competition between the two world economic powers that is becoming more fierce day by day – or both – that have pushed Biden to fear his intention to triple the duties on steel and aluminum made in China.
Last Wednesday, speaking to members of the United Steelworkers union in Pennsylvania, the president said that Chinese prices are "unfairly low" because the government subsidizes companies "that don't have to worry about making a profit" (much like what happens with the overproduction of solar panels and batteries , which cause international prices to collapse and impede competition).
“They're cheating, and we've seen the damage here in America,” Biden said, adding that “in the early 2000s, tens of thousands of steelworker jobs were lost to Chinese imports.” The White House also said it will launch an investigation into unfair trade practices in China's shipbuilding and logistics sectors.
…PAST AND FUTURE
In reality, the BBC reminds us , “many steel and aluminum imports from China are already subject to border taxes, including a 25% duty on some steel products, which the United States introduced under former President Donald Trump, citing the justification of national security". Among other things, the tycoon – already self-defined as the tariff man – has promised, in the event of re-election, to be even more aggressive and has proposed a 10% tax on all imports, which would rise to over 60% for products from China.
The World Trade Organization, however, ruled that such tariffs violated global trade rules and were subsequently reduced for many countries.
Furthermore, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had warned just the day before Biden's announcement that this type of geopolitical tension "risks harming global economic growth and pushing inflation in the wrong direction."
AMERICAN IMPORTS
According toVerità & Affari , "in 2023 the US imported aluminum and steel from China worth 1.7 billion dollars", of which 900 million for steel and 750 million dollars for aluminium.
BEIJING'S ANTI-DUMPING ACTION
Diplomatic reaction aside – the Chinese embassy in the United States declared that it "firmly opposes" the measures proposed by Biden -, Beijing has moved on to the facts and responded by announcing an anti-dumping action against the import of propionic acid (E280) from by the USA after, according to a note from the Ministry of Commerce, "an investigation found that American dumping caused damage to the Chinese industry".
The move aims to increase the cost of "below-cost imports of key chemicals" from the United States by paying an additional tariff to Chinese customs, upon closing an anti-dumping investigation launched last July into damage to the local chemical industry .
WHAT IS PROPIONIC ACID
Propionic acid is a chemical product used mainly in the production of preservatives, herbicides, antifungal agents and pharmaceutical intermediates, which finds wide applications in various sectors, from food to feed, but also among pesticides and pharmaceuticals.
As a preservative additive it is used in particular for bread and other baked products (packaged bread loaf, pizza, biscuits), but it can also be present in cheeses.
CHINESE IMPORTS
China, as China Daily wrote last July, “is a large consumer of propionic acid, with total consumption in 2022 increasing by 26.7% compared to 2019”.
“The United States – he continues – were the main supplier of propionic acid and the share of Chinese imports from the USA went from 97.41% in 2020 to 100% in the first quarter of this year. […] China's propionic acid imports decreased to 16,700 metric tons in 2022, with annual domestic demand of 77,600 metric tons in 2022.”
“Trade between China and the United States amounted to $313 billion in the first half of 2023, down 8.4% from a year earlier,” according to data from China's General Administration of Customs.
AWAY FROM CHINA WHATSAPP AND THREADS
Beijing's order to Apple to remove WhatsApp and Meta Threads from its app store in China for "national security reasons" also fits into this context. Although more than 14,000 apps are banned in the country, Facebook, Messenger and Instagram continue to be available.
“The Cyberspace Administration of China ordered the removal of these apps from the Chinese store based on national security concerns – Apple said in a note, confirming what was anticipated by the WSJ -. We are obliged to follow the laws of the countries in which we operate, even when we disagree."
However, Cupertino has made it known that the two apps remain available for download on their other stores, which allows tech-savvy Chinese to circumvent the ban.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/reazione-cina-antidumping-acido-propionico-whatsapp-threads/ on Fri, 19 Apr 2024 10:48:05 +0000.