Supply Chain Research

The Chinese government has started a dispute process against America’s section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum at the WTO. It argues that the duties applied are “safeguarding” rather than “national security” in nature, which could call into question the justification of tariffs and their implementation. The move comes despite China already having started the process of applying retaliatory duties on $3 billion of U.S. goods. Chinese metals suppliers have begun to cut supplies, with seaborne imports to the U.S. in February and March (pro-rata) having fallen 16% and 30% respectively bel...