Singapore 05/11/2015 - The call for US authorities to investigate alleged unfair trade practices by China in the aluminium market has grown.
More than 15,000 Americans have signed a change.org petition calling for the Office of the US Trade Representative to investigate China “for its manipulation of the global aluminium market,” said the China Trade Task Force - a coalition formed by Century Aluminium - in a Wednesday statement.
The petition called for US Trade Representative Michael Froman and his team to “investigate China’s cheating and initiate a trade case against China,” it said.
China continues to provide illegal state owned aluminium producers, with interest-free loans, debt forgiveness and preferential regulatory treatment in violation of World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules, the task force alleged.
"The lives of American aluminium workers and their families are being destroyed by China's illegal trade practices…If we don't stand up to China's cheating, we face the end of America's aluminium industry as we know it," the task force’s executive director Will Dempster said.
Earlier this week, two aluminium smelters in Washington State and another smelter in upstate New York had announced that they will be shutting down operations, while in late October, 400 aluminium workers in Kentucky lost their jobs and another 600 aluminium workers in South Carolina were issued with early warnings of closing and layoffs, it said.
Alcoa had said earlier this week that it will curtail 503,000 tonnes per year of capacity by the end of the first quarter of 2016 at three US smelters: Intalco, Wenatchee and Massena West.
China currently has a 15-percent duty on the export of primary aluminium but shipments of semi-finished and finished metal are tax-free. The country offers a refund of value-added tax (VAT) on exports of some products, reducing the cost and making it more competitive in foreign markets.
The Aluminum Extruders Council (AEC) had also earlier filed a petition against China Zhongwang Holdings Ltd, alleging that the company "systematically and illegally evaded duties" on aluminium extrusions imported into the United States.
Zhongwang denied any allegations of wrong-doing in a release in the subsequent days.