China, in his words · 2016 campaign · № 34

On China

Said China was dumping steel and 'killing our steelworkers and our steel companies'

“You take a look at what's happening to steel and the cost of steel and China dumping vast amounts of steel all over the United States, which essentially is killing our steelworkers and our steel companies.”
Said
, Second presidential debate with Hillary Clinton, Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri
Subject
steel dumping
Threat
Economic threat
Topic
Trade & tariffs
Era
2016 campaign

What the record showed

On March 8, 2018 he proclaimed a 25 percent tariff on steel imports from all countries except Canada and Mexico, effective March 23, 2018. PolitiFact found that China accounted for just over 2 percent of U.S. steel imports by quantity in 2017 and 3.35 percent by value, behind Canada (roughly 18 percent), the European Union (about 21 percent) and South Korea (nearly 10 percent). On March 6, 2018 he disputed the 2 percent figure, saying China ships steel through other countries; experts told PolitiFact there was no hard data on the scale of transshipment.

Sources

  1. Presidential Debate at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri The American Presidency Project (UC Santa Barbara), Oct 9, 2016
  2. Presidential Proclamation on Adjusting Imports of Steel into the United States The White House (archived), Mar 8, 2018
  3. How much steel does the U.S. import from China? PolitiFact, Mar 8, 2018