Major steel producers fail to reach consensus on capacity

A meeting of ministers and trade officials from over 30 countries, hosted by Belgium and the OECD on Monday, sought to tackle excess capacity, but concluded only that it had to be dealt with in a swift and structural way. 

China and other major steel-producing countries failed to agree measures to tackle a global steel crisis as the sides argued over the causes of overcapacity, prompting US criticism of Beijing’s approach and an angry response from Chinese officials. 

Washington pointed the finger at China over the failure of the talks, saying Beijing needed to act on overcapacity or face possible trade action from other countries.

In a statement, Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker and US Trade Representative Michael Froman said: “Unless China starts to take timely and concrete actions to reduce its excess production and capacity in industries including steel, and works with others to ensure that future government actions do not once again contribute to excess capacity, the fundamental structural problems in the industry will remain and affected governments — including the U.S. will have no alternatives other than trade action to avoid harm to their domestic industries and workers.”