Aluminium Overcast

China warned that it was going to take ‘necessary measures’ in order to protect its business interest in the US

The recalibration of relationships between China and America continues apace, and the smiling faces and firm handshakes of the American presidential visit to China are fast fading, the skies darkened by an aluminium overcast. China warned on Wednesday 9^th November that it was going to take ‘necessary measures’ in order to protect its business interest in the US, thin in the immediate wake of America launching an inquiry into possible aluminium dumping by China into US markets. America imports aluminium sheeting worth hundreds of millions of dollars a year and they have a myriad of application — from roofing and cladding to soft drinks cans.

This is the first time since 1991 that the US Commerce Department has made a move such as this without a formal complaint being filed. China has commented on the rarity of the move and expressed its strong dissatisfaction at what it termed ‘trade protectionism’. At issue is whether the Chinese aluminium is undercutting the American product and the Commerce Department thinks this may be the case hence the inquiry. If found to be so then the US could retaliate by imposing punitive import duties on Chinese aluminium making it no longer commercially viable in the American market.

It will be recalled that one of the planks of the Trump campaign in 2016 was the push-back against unfair trade practices, and China featured large in the sights of President Trump once elected. American Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross made no bones about it — a Presidential pledge was being redeemed and yes, America would protect itself. Whatever the rights and wrongs of the case the chill brought on by the aluminium overcast is a part of the wider struggle on a range of fronts between China and America. China is expanding globally and will be doing so for a generation or more into the future. It already has a grip on African markets for its manufactured goods as well as mineral extraction; and America is barely visible on the African continent. A scrap over a common metal is one of many more to come, and whatever pivot to the east Obama was crafting is now firmly reversed.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 1^st, 2017.

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