Hillary Clinton threatens action against China on steel production

Washington, Apr 12: Democratic presidential front runner Hillary Clinton has condemned China for the announcement to support overcapacity in its steel production, saying she will not tolerate such attempts and take action against the Communist country if elected as the US President.

"I would not tolerate attempts by China to solve its growing economic problems on the back of American workers," Clinton said in a statement yesterday.

China has announced that it plans to keep propping up significant overcapacity in their steel production, she said, adding that this means it will keep unloading artificially cheap steel into global markets at the expense of countries and workers that play by the rules.

"As President, I'll aggressively pursue trade cases and impose consequences when China breaks the rules by dumping its cheap products in our markets," Clinton said.

"I'll oppose efforts to grant China so-called 'market economy' status, which would weaken our tools for dealing with this behaviour. I've gone toe-to-toe with China's top leaders on some of the toughest issues we face. I know how they operate – and they know that if I'm President, the games are going to end," she said.

During her campaign, Clinton has said that as president she would crack down on foreign countries, like China, when they cheat the rules.

"If foreign countries dump products on our markets, like China is doing right now with steel, Clinton's administration will take countervailing action," 68-year-old Clinton said, adding that she will appoint a new trade prosecutor that reports directly to the President and triple the number of trade enforcement officers to keep other countries honest.

Clinton said she will take on foreign countries that keep their goods artificially cheap by manipulating their currencies and expand "our toolbox to include effective new remedies to respond, such as duties, tariffs, or other measures."

Clinton said as president she would say "no" to new trade agreements that do not meet her high bar – including the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

After looking at the final terms of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, including what it contains on currency manipulation and its weak rules of origin standard for what counts as a car that can get treaty benefits, Clinton opposed the agreement because it did not meet her test, said her campaign.

Clinton has also promised to review the trade agreements that the US already has on the books.

PTI