Greer: Other Countries Must Restrict Steel, Steel Derivatives as We Have
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, in a taped address to the Global Forum on Steel Excess Capacity held Oct. 10, said that his country "has taken effective actions" to address excess steel capacity, by imposing tariffs on direct and indirect steel imports from countries with overcapacity.
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"However, China's exports continue to displace steel producers globally, resulting in trade diversion to the U.S. market and lost export opportunities for our manufacturers," he said. He argued that means that other countries need to take actions similar to America's Section 232 tariffs.
"These actions do not need to look exactly like the actions taken by the United States, but they should have an equivalent restrictive effect," he said.
He praised the ministerial statement, which said the countries participating in the forum want to reach an agreement on the key elements of a collective course of action by June 2026.
"Meeting participants recognised the deepening global steel excess capacity crisis, its sources and impacts, and the need for effective actions and greater policy coordination to swiftly reverse current trends. Non-market policies and practices in non-[forum] economies continue to fuel steel excess capacity, including through cross-border investments and transnational subsidies, posing risks to market stability, employment, supply chains and decarbonisation efforts. The impacts of trade diversion, circumvention of trade measures, and indirect steel trade have intensified, along with a notable increase in trade actions," the statement said.
Greer added, "Failure to take collective action now will only allow distortions to further impact our workers and industries." He said the joint action will need to be more ambitious than the structures in free trade agreements or the World Trade Organization.
"In fact, the WTO has proven ineffective in reducing disparities and imbalances, addressing non-market policies and practices, providing sufficient transparency, and enforcing agreed rules," Greer said. He said the WTO has not been able to reform itself.
He said the joint action "should also acknowledge and address regulatory arbitrage, which exacerbates excess capacity and disadvantages our workers and businesses by artificially lowering prices of imported steel and steel intensive products relative to those produced in our markets."
The American Iron and Steel Institute wrote, “We are pleased that [forum] members have discussed a framework for joint action to address the root causes and effects of global excess steel capacity, and we applaud the strong leadership of Ambassador Greer and the Trump trade team in confronting this challenge head-on.”
The members of the forum include many EU countries that make steel, the EU, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Canada, the U.S., Australia, Norway, Switzerland, Japan, South Korea, Turkey and South Africa.
Some non-forum countries also attended the meeting, described as "key steel-producing economies from Southeast Asia and Ukraine."