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China Is Not a Market Economy, Steelworkers Tell European Commission
02/15/2016 - Scores of angry steelworkers marched on European Union headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, today, demanding that commissioners take action to quell unfairly traded imports and that they deny China market economy status.
According to reports, approximately 5,200 steel industry representatives circled the EU's Berlaymont headquarters in a show of opposition to any move to grant China the status.
The commission will be deciding this year whether to declare China a market economy, something China argues it is due under its ascension agreement to the World Trade Organization. However, the manufacturing sector says that China certainly hasn't behaved as a market economy and that declaring it as such would make it virtually impossible to enact meaningful trade measures against the country.
"Granting (market economy status) to China is essentially just giving a license to dump, as trade instruments will become much less effective if not meaningless," said Geert Van Poelvoorde, EUROFER president and CEO of ArcelorMittal's European flat products division, during a speech prior to the march.
The march was organized by AEGIS Europe, an alliance of approximately 30 trade associations representing various European manufacturing sectors, including steel.
Among those joining the march was Tata Steel Europe CEO Karl Koehler, whose company has mothballed mills and laid off hundreds in the United Kingdom due in part to competition from low-cost imports.
"The situation facing Tata Steel and other European steelmakers today is perilous. If the European commission does not take immediate and robust action, thousands of jobs in the industry – and many thousands more in the wider supply chain – will be threatened," Koehler said, according to The Guardian newspaper.
"We are not asking for special treatment. Instead, we are asking for the European commission to stand up for fair trade and to give European steelmakers a chance to compete on a level playing field."
At the headquarters, European Commission officials were meeting with industry leaders and U.K. officials, who were pushing for a faster process by which trade measures are imposed, among other things.
But in opening the summit, Jyrki Katainen, competitiveness commissioner, warned that “there is not one silver bullet or medicine to swallow to keep our position as a continent of competitive industry in good shape."
And sources at the summit told the The (London) Telegraph newspaper they believed it was unlikely the industry would win any fast action.
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| Source: AEGIS Europe |
| European steel industry representatives marched on EU headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on 15 February. |
The commission will be deciding this year whether to declare China a market economy, something China argues it is due under its ascension agreement to the World Trade Organization. However, the manufacturing sector says that China certainly hasn't behaved as a market economy and that declaring it as such would make it virtually impossible to enact meaningful trade measures against the country.
"Granting (market economy status) to China is essentially just giving a license to dump, as trade instruments will become much less effective if not meaningless," said Geert Van Poelvoorde, EUROFER president and CEO of ArcelorMittal's European flat products division, during a speech prior to the march.
The march was organized by AEGIS Europe, an alliance of approximately 30 trade associations representing various European manufacturing sectors, including steel.
Among those joining the march was Tata Steel Europe CEO Karl Koehler, whose company has mothballed mills and laid off hundreds in the United Kingdom due in part to competition from low-cost imports.
"The situation facing Tata Steel and other European steelmakers today is perilous. If the European commission does not take immediate and robust action, thousands of jobs in the industry – and many thousands more in the wider supply chain – will be threatened," Koehler said, according to The Guardian newspaper.
"We are not asking for special treatment. Instead, we are asking for the European commission to stand up for fair trade and to give European steelmakers a chance to compete on a level playing field."
At the headquarters, European Commission officials were meeting with industry leaders and U.K. officials, who were pushing for a faster process by which trade measures are imposed, among other things.
But in opening the summit, Jyrki Katainen, competitiveness commissioner, warned that “there is not one silver bullet or medicine to swallow to keep our position as a continent of competitive industry in good shape."
And sources at the summit told the The (London) Telegraph newspaper they believed it was unlikely the industry would win any fast action.
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