There were several press reports [ for example this one from the Wall Street Journal ] about how China was avoiding import duties slapped on aluminum and steel that were coming into the U.S from China. By the way if you want to see what $25 million of aluminum looks like on a dock, take a look at the picture in the Journal. What the Chinese did was move their metals into other countries, then have them do something to the metal, like add a processing step like they did in Vietnam, or just transship it as they did in Mexico, to avoid the tariffs put on these metals. Magically, they were no longer being imported from China. After almost two years of this, our government finally got wise to how it was being done and seized a few tons of the stuff to prove their point. I doubt that they seized any Mexican cars made from this stuff though.
I am kind of two minds on this. One, this has been a long time coming. We were allowing this stuff to be taken in with a wink - saying it wasn't really from China, when we knew it was. That certainly benefitted U.S industries that use these metals and kept the price of goods down, but it also destroyed what was left of our metals processing in the U.S. A sacrifice of a few, for the many.
I'm glad they started with Aluminum and said it needed to be a first step at righting this wrong. But, I do admire the preparation of another land mine for the Trump Administration. They will be the ones enforcing the tariffs on these metals and raising the price of goods produced in the United States. Always better to leave that kind of unpleasantness for the next bunch coming in.
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