Tag: china

International trade remains at the forefront of President Trump’s agenda, especially as new negotiations and investigations continue to be announced.

Baosteel exec comments on market rumors of 50 million tons of output being cut this year, less than 0.5% of the 1 billion tons-plus China has produced annually in recent years.

Containers sailing from China in April are down 15%-20% and Hapag Lloyd says their future bookings transpacific are down 30%.

President Trump cast a wide net with the proposed, reciprocal tariffs. The negotiating stage will be critical to determining the success of his strategy. And for those suffering tariff whiplash, don’t expect the pace of change to slow down just because the reciprocal tariffs are entering a negotiating phase.

Chinese export prices for longs were almost steady this week, while those for flats generally declined as producers cut prices to secure deals.

Global raw steel production increased in March, according to the latest figures released by the World Steel Association (worldsteel).

Container shipping lines have sharply increased blank sailings on Transpacific routes in response to escalating trade tensions between the US and China.

Chinese steel export prices are expected to remain stable or fall in the coming weeks as trade restrictions rise and tensions between the country and the US escalate.

The US Trade Representative (USTR) has drafted a proposal targeting the Chinese shipbuilding industry by setting elevated port fees for any maritime shipping company associated with Chinese-built vessels.

The penalties are expected to be reinstated on Wednesday, March 12. 

The Trump 1.0 tariffs appeared to have little positive effect on the US manufacturing, partly because they hurt export competitiveness.

The demise of the VAT rebate system in China might be the most tangible sign that Beijing realizes that its unbridled access to global markets is over. There was no point in continuing a system of financial incentives to the export sector when the tariff headwinds were getting stronger.

US sheet prices surge following tariff announcement

Targets include coal, liquified natural gas, crude oil, and other commodities

The benefits from higher tariffs are speculative and unproven. The disruptions caused by tariffs and other trade restrictions are better documented and cannot be rationally denied. For the tariffs to be good policy, the Trump argument must therefore be sure that the benefits to the US exceed the cost of these disruptions. Otherwise, we have madness masquerading as policy.

The Trump administration will implement 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico and 10% tariffs on China, according to a White House fact sheet and executive orders circulated on Saturday. The administration said that it would tariff “energy resources” from Canada at a lower rate – 10%. The tariffs will go into effect at 12:01 ET on Tuesday, according to an executive order. The White House documents made no mention of exemptions.

The volume of crude steel produced around the world declined 2% month over month (m/m) in December, according to the World Steel Association (worldsteel). This is the second-consecutive monthly decline in production, following November’s 3% m/m drop.

A bleak outlook for steel demand has undermined market confidence, contributing to the drop in prices.

This CRU Insight discusses a few key topics our clients have been asking about as 2024 comes to a close and 2025 begins. This piece introduces these topics briefly now before we discuss them in more detail in a webinar in January 2025. In previous years, we have published a year-end Insight on our ‘Top […]

The size of the capital structure and the composition of the owners are telling statements about the importance that Beijing has assigned to this venture.

The Canadian government estimates steel and aluminum imports from China will decrease by nearly 50% due to newly implemented tariffs.

American and Canadian steel trade groups, as well as the government of Mexico, have responded to President-elect Trump's threat of imposing 25% tariffs on all US imports from Canada and Mexico and a 10% tariff on imports from China.

President-elect Donald Trump threatened on social media Monday evening to impose tariffs of 25% on all US imports from Canada and Mexico.

The OECD Steel Committee convened its 96th session last week in Paris, along with the Global Forum on Steel Excess Capacity. The event brought together 250 government and industry delegates from 40 of the largest steel-producing countries. The Committee’s discussions and presentations were clear: Steel markets worldwide are in dire straits.

China is one of the elephants in the room as the transition to Trump 2.0 continues. While the people and policies are still being formulated, it’s possible to detect a strategy for the new Trump administration. I think there are two imperative issues that the new administration needs to balance. The Trump strategy will, I believe, follow the following points. First, trade is one of the issues that got President Trump elected in 2016 and 2024—it nearly got him elected in 2020, save for the pandemic. If President Trump had won in 2020, I might be writing chronicles about the end of his eight years in the White House now instead of projecting what the next Trump administration would accomplish or break. Oh, well—that’s life. Trade will necessarily be a key feature of relations with China for the next four years.

A look at this week's aluminum news

China’s steel export volumes reached 11.2 million metric tons (mt) in October, the highest monthly level since September 2015. Steel export prices were mostly stable in China and India this week, while in Turkey steel export prices increased week over week (w/w).

With the US presidential election decided, ‘wait and see’ has quickly turned into ‘we’re about to find out.’ Following Donald Trump’s victory, I had a chance to sit down with Kevin Dempsey, president and CEO of the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI). He gave his thoughts on what he thought we might see in Trump’s second term in office, and what it means for steel.

Global steel mill output totaled 143.6 million metric tons (mt) in September, the lowest monthly rate recorded this year.

The Canadian government announced a remission process for businesses for recently announced tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum products and electric vehicles .