{"id":467888,"date":"2026-02-09T05:33:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T05:33:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/467888\/"},"modified":"2026-02-09T05:33:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T05:33:11","slug":"australia-slaps-tariffs-on-chinese-steel-imports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/467888\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia slaps tariffs on Chinese steel imports"},"content":{"rendered":"

The A\ufeffustralian government has quietly imposed tariffs<\/a> on some Chinese<\/a> steel products, risking retaliation from the emerging superpower.<\/p>\n

Ceiling frames imported from China will be slapped with a 10 per cent tariff, the Department of Industry has confirmed.<\/p>\n

The levy follows an inquiry by the \ufeffAnti-Dumping Commission that found local manufacturers were being unfairly undercut and the products received government subsidies.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/Australia has imposed tariffs on some Chinese steel imports. (AP Photo\/Robert F. Bukaty) (AP)Last month, Treasurer Jim Chalmers<\/a> requested the Productivity Commission carry out an urgent inquiry into the effect of structural steel imports on the local market.<\/p>\n

Australian steel fabricators, commonly small to medium-sized businesses, told the investigation a flood of cheap imported products were leaving them uncompetitive.<\/p>\n

Industry Minister Tim Ayres said the government was standing up for Australian businesses in support of free and fair trade.<\/p>\n

“This is because Australia’s prosperity is linked to open and rules-based trade \u2013 one in four Australian jobs depend on trade,” he said.<\/p>\n

“When trade is not fair, the government will stand up for Australian farmers, manufacturers and workers.”<\/p>\n

“This includes applying measures at the border to address unfair imports.”<\/p>\n

China’s sluggish construction sector<\/a> has led to a glut of steel made there, triggering a flood of shipments to overseas markets.<\/p>\n

According to Commonwealth Bank of Australia analysis, Chinese crude steel output fell by 4.4 per cent last year \u2013 marking the largest annual fall since the data began in 1990.<\/p>\n

While heavy US tariffs have deterred Chinese steel importers, other markets, including Australia, became export targets.<\/p>\n

The move by Australia was in addition to temporary tariffs ranging form 35 per cent and 113 per cent on steel products, which started last December.<\/p>\n

Dumping, defined by the World Trade Organisation, is a form of price discrimination, involving selling a product in the importing country at less than the price in the market where it is made.<\/p>\n

The latest tariffs come after warmer trade relations between Canberra and Beijing since the 2022 election victory of the Albanese government.<\/p>\n

It followed years of bitter trade disputes under the former Morrison government when bilateral relations chilled over suspicions of Chinese interference in Australia increased.<\/p>\n

China also hit out at Australia’s call for an inquiry into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic and allegations it was seeking to intimidate members of the Chinese-Australian community.<\/p>\n

NEVER MISS A STORY: Get your breaking news and exclusive stories first by following us across all platforms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The A\ufeffustralian government has quietly imposed tariffs on some Chinese steel products, risking retaliation from the emerging superpower.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":467889,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[64,63,99,164],"class_list":["post-467888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=467888"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467888\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/467889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}