China Imposes a Steep Tariff on U.S. Poultry

A year ago, President Obama imposed a stiff tariff on tires from China in an antidumping case. Less than two days later, the Chinese began an investigation into whether the United States harmed China's poultry industry by exporting chicken parts for less than it cost to produce them. Now, China has decided to impose tariffs on American poultry of up to 105.4%. The United States exports about $4 billion a year of chicken products, of which $678.2 million went to China last year. It is one of the few industries in which the U.S. maintains a positive trade balance with China.

China Imposes a Steep Tariff on U.S. Poultry - NYTimes.com

EU Raises Tariffs on Wheels

At the urging of wheel manufacturers in Europe, the European Union has agreed to extend antidumping duties on aluminum wheels from China, and to raise those duties to more than 23%.  The move was fiercely opposed by car manufacturers like BMW and Volkswagen, who fear that their businesses in China may be affected by retaliation by the Chinese government.

EU Raises Tariffs on Wheels - WSJ.com

U.S. Likely to Find China Subsidized Aluminum

The U.S. Commerce Department is expected to announce tomorrow that China illegally subsidized about $550 million worth of extruded aluminum (aluminum squeezed into shapes like the window frames above), opening the door for higher duties as early as next week.


U.S. Likely to Find China Subsidized Aluminum - WSJ.com

Chinese Glass to Adorn New World Trade Center

It used to be that low cost, high bulk items were made close to the customer. After all, shipping adds a lot of cost to an item and there comes a point where shipping it from across the world doesn't make economic sense. Thus when carmakers go abroad the first things they look for locally are low cost, high bulk items like tires, batteries, and seat foam.

Does glass count? Perhaps. A lot of glass is still made in the United States, especially in Ohio. As a great NYT article yesterday points out, though, the tipping point where it's cheaper to outsource even glass may be arriving. The first 20 floors of the new World Trade Center (pictured above) require a special blast proof glass. When the call for bids went out, the cheapest bid came from, and went to... Beijing Glass. That's right, a Chinese company will supply the glass for these floors. An American company won the bid to supply the glass for the rest of the floors.

There's a trade war brewing on this front. American glassmakers have filed dumping petitions, hoping to gain some relief from Chinese imports through a temporary import tariff. Even if that happens, though, the jobs that have been lost in the U.S. are unlikely to reappear. In the last 9 years, glassmakers in the U.S. have shed thousands of jobs, cutting employment by more than 30 percent.

Glassmaking Thrives Offshore, but Is Declining in U.S. - NYTimes.com