US Steel & Aluminium Tariffs: Trump administration set to begin charging import duties Friday

World
Europe

The United States is set to begin charging import duties of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminium on Friday. The move has upset major exporters including several US allies. Jim Spellman explains how much of an impact it could cause, especially in China.

JIM SPELLMAN WASHINGTON DC "Steel has been a focus of US President Donald Trump's push for tariffs so let's take a look at steel by the numbers. According to World Steel - a global trade group, China is the world's largest producer of steel. In 2017 China produced 832 million metric tons of steel, accounting for just under half of the world steel output - up slightly over previous years."

The next five top producers are the EU, Japan, India, South Korea and the US which accounts for less than 5% of world steel output.

So where does all that Chinese steel go? According to the Chinese Government, most of it is used domestically. In 2017 only about 9%-- 75 million tons-- was exported. That's down about 30% from 2016.

The US government says the top export markets for Chinese steel in 2017 were South Korea, Vietnam, and The Philippines. The US ranked way down the list in 26th place, accounting for just 1.1 percent of Chinese steel exports.

So from where does the US import steel? In 2017 the top five countries were Canada, Brazil, South Korea, Mexico, and Russia. China ranks 10th, accounting for just 2% of imported steel.

The US tariffs on steel may impact many countries around the world, but will likely have little effect on the Chinese steel industry. Jim Spellman, CGTN, Washington.