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Transshipment of Chinese Steel

Rexedgar

Rexedgar

Yo-Semite!
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Before Trump, I had never heard the word 'transshipment' before. My searches don't bring much clarity to the term when the subject is Chinese produced steel. China seems to be the world leader in steel production. I have a little business experience and most times when a product passes through a business there is a fee added to the product before it leaves for the next stop. If this is a common practice, it would seem that the price would reflect the number of handlers involved. Estimates of US importation of Chinese steel hover between 2-4%. I found the tariff announcement today very confusing and rambling. Anyone have a better handle on the subject?
 
Rexedgar said:
Before Trump, I had never heard the word 'transshipment' before. My searches don't bring much clarity to the term when the subject is Chinese produced steel. China seems to be the world leader in steel production. I have a little business experience and most times when a product passes through a business there is a fee added to the product before it leaves for the next stop. If this is a common practice, it would seem that the price would reflect the number of handlers involved. Estimates of US importation of Chinese steel hover between 2-4%. I found the tariff announcement today very confusing and rambling. Anyone have a better handle on the subject?
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Far as I know it's an invented issue, invented by Trump's apologists to counter the argument against a steel duty on Canada, the argument based on the fact that Canada buys at least as much steel from American companies as it sells to other American companies. There's one poster here who told me that Canada doesn't produce any steel, that all the steel coming into the US from Canada originated in China and is being 'transshipped'.
 
Rexedgar said:
Before Trump, I had never heard the word 'transshipment' before. My searches don't bring much clarity to the term when the subject is Chinese produced steel. China seems to be the world leader in steel production. I have a little business experience and most times when a product passes through a business there is a fee added to the product before it leaves for the next stop. If this is a common practice, it would seem that the price would reflect the number of handlers involved. Estimates of US importation of Chinese steel hover between 2-4%. I found the tariff announcement today very confusing and rambling. Anyone have a better handle on the subject?
Click to expand...

In this case it would be

Theoretical

A Canadian buyer of Chinese steel would accept a load in Canada, label it as Canadian production then resell it. It is unlikely to be in any significant quantities in Canada as steel production is a statistic that Canada gathers data on. If the volumes of steel used domestically and exported did not match what was produced a flag would be risen.

If I recall correctly Can exporters (not specific to steel) to the US have to certify NA content of the exports when going to the US, or Mexico and could be audited by either country requiring documentation of all inputs into the product being exported in order to meet tariff free requirements under Nafta.
 
Rexedgar said:
Before Trump, I had never heard the word 'transshipment' before. My searches don't bring much clarity to the term when the subject is Chinese produced steel. China seems to be the world leader in steel production. I have a little business experience and most times when a product passes through a business there is a fee added to the product before it leaves for the next stop. If this is a common practice, it would seem that the price would reflect the number of handlers involved. Estimates of US importation of Chinese steel hover between 2-4%. I found the tariff announcement today very confusing and rambling. Anyone have a better handle on the subject?
Click to expand...

Japan buys Chinese steel and sends it to the USA in the form of Toyota’s. That is what transshipment is.
 
Rexedgar said:
Before Trump, I had never heard the word 'transshipment' before. My searches don't bring much clarity to the term when the subject is Chinese produced steel.
Click to expand...
Let me fix that for you.

Politifact has an article which explains some of the issues. "Transshipment" means that the steel leaves one nation, undergoes some modifications, and is then sent to its final buyers. The changes are usually necessary, i.e. it's not a way to get around trade barriers.

We should note that China has done end-runs around the Obama steel tariffs, but that has nothing to do with transshipments. In that case, they were funneling steel through companies in Vietnam.

Even using those tactics, China's share of US steel market is probably around 2%.
How much steel does the U.S. import from China? | PolitiFact
 
Grand Mal said:
Far as I know it's an invented issue, invented by Trump's apologists to counter the argument against a steel duty on Canada, the argument based on the fact that Canada buys at least as much steel from American companies as it sells to other American companies. There's one poster here who told me that Canada doesn't produce any steel, that all the steel coming into the US from Canada originated in China and is being 'transshipped'.
Click to expand...

Of course

All Canadians know that Hamilton is not a real place, just an imaginary one that is placed on maps to fool Americans
 
Grand Mal said:
Far as I know it's an invented issue, invented by Trump's apologists to counter the argument against a steel duty on Canada, the argument based on the fact that Canada buys at least as much steel from American companies as it sells to other American companies. There's one poster here who told me that Canada doesn't produce any steel, that all the steel coming into the US from Canada originated in China and is being 'transshipped'.
Click to expand...

Yeah well we know who he is, and how uninformed he is.
Really ffn dumb.
 
chuckiechan said:
Japan buys Chinese steel and sends it to the USA in the form of Toyota’s. That is what transshipment is.
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No it's not. That's called 'manufacturing'. Transshipment is importing a product from one country and sending the same product to another.
What you described is what I've heard called 'value added', by someone who's trying very hard to find justification for Trump's latest dumb move.
 
Lord Tammerlain said:
Of course

All Canadians know that Hamilton is not a real place, just an imaginary one that is placed on maps to fool Americans
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Canadian steel mills are just elaborate cover for pot growing operation.
 
Check Kobe Steel scandal.

Japanese steel producer used Chinese steel but sold it as Japanese quality steel.
 
Barnacle said:
Check Kobe Steel scandal.

Japanese steel producer used Chinese steel but sold it as Japanese quality steel.
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As far as I have read they faked the quality of steel they produced not that they used Chinese steel
 
WASHINGTON, March 8 (Reuters) - U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Thursday broad steel and aluminum tariffs were needed to counteract China’s transshipment of products through third countries.

In an interview with CNBC following President Donald Trump’s tariff announcement, Ross said: “China has been very clever at transshipping products through other countries and dislodging domestic demand in other countries, which causes their producers to dump on us.”

“So the reason we have to go on a broader basis is to deal with the problems of transshipment and the problems of displacement,” he said. (Reporting by Eric Beech; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)
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Steel and aluminum tariffs are imposed on the EU and Japan as well as other American allies. South Korea will likely lose more than $1.1 billion per year. Wilbur Ross said broad steel and aluminum tariffs were needed to counteract China’s transshipment. Only Canada and Mexico were exempted because Trump is still renegotiation NAFTA with these countries.
 
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U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer was due to meet EU trade chief Cecilia Malmstrom and separately with Japanese Trade Minister Hiroshige Seko on Saturday for long-planned talks that have taken on added urgency amid concerns that Trump’s move could provoke a global trade war.
 
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