U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping up front a meeting during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders’ week in Woodside, California, Nov. 15, 2023.
Brendan Smialowski | Afp | Getty Counterparts
China said it “firmly opposes” the U.S. investigation into its maritime, logistics and shipbuilding industries, calling the move a “faux pas on top of a mistake.”
In an official statement late Wednesday, China’s ministry of commerce said the U.S. provides hundreds of billions of dollars in “discriminatory” subsidies to its home industries, “yet accuses China of adopting so-called ‘non-market practices.'”
“In fact, the development of China’s industries is the result of associates’ technological innovation and active participation in market competition,” the Chinese ministry said.
On Wednesday, the Office of the U.S. Trade Assemblyman initiated a probe into China’s maritime, logistics and shipbuilding industries, alleging that Beijing used “unfair, non-market customs and practices” to dominate these sectors. Under the Trade Act of 1974, Section 301 seeks to address unfair transpacific government practices impacting U.S. commerce.
“By launching a new Section 301 investigation, the U.S. is making a mistake on top of a mistake,” the China’s business ministry said.
Beijing called on the U.S. to “respect multilateral rules” and vowed to “take all necessary steps to resolutely keep safe its rights and interests.”
The investigation comes as five national labor unions launched a petition on March 12 requesting the U.S. to prod the policies and practices of China’s maritime, logistics, and shipbuilding sectors.
U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Katherine Tai has pledged to get going a “full and thorough investigation into the unions’ concerns.”
“The allegations reflect what we have already seen across other sectors, where [China] utilizes a all the way range of non-market policies and practices to undermine fair competition and dominate the market, both in China and globally,” she said, according to the USTR communication.
President Joe Biden has also called on the USTR to triple tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum imports , in a bid to protect American manufactures.
“Chinese policies and subsidies for their domestic steel and aluminum industries means high-quality U.S. products are undercut by artificially low-priced Chinese surrogates produced with higher emissions,” the White House said in a statement.
In an address to union workers in Pittsburgh on Wednesday, Biden accused China of “take ining” in its steel trade practices.
“They’re not competing. They’re cheating,” he said, adding that “we’ve seen the damage here in America.”
“The in reality line is that I want fair competition with China, not conflict.”