US steelworkers have urged President Joe Biden to open a trade investigation into alleged unfair economic practices in China’s shipbuilding sector.
On Tuesday, the United Steelworkers (USW) union led a coalition of labour organisations in filing a Section 301 petition, calling on US Trade Representative Katherine Tai to investigate Chinese commercial shipbuilding, which it said had employed an “array of non-market policies”.
Tai has 45 days to determine whether to pursue an investigation.
The UK’s Financial Times reported that among the USW’s potential relief measures could be the imposition of port fees on Chinese-built vessels to create a fund to help revitalise US shipbuilding.
“The US once had nearly 30 major shipyards; now we’re down to just a handful,” said USW International president David McCall.
“That correlates with more than 70,000 lost shipbuilding jobs, not to mention all the secondary jobs the industry supports.”
McCall said a single commercial ship can require 13,000 tonnes of structural steel, 60,000 gallons (227,000 litres) of paint, 130 miles (209 km) of electrical cable and many other products “tens of thousands of USW members proudly produce”.
He claimed that China is using commercial shipbuilding to “dominate the full spectrum of global trade, choking out all competitors”.
“If we do not act quickly, we will soon be dependent on China not only for the products their vessels bring into our ports but also for the ships themselves,” he said.
The growing imbalance in shipbuilding also threatens national security, he added, with China surpassing the US as having the world’s largest navy.
“Rebuilding our Merchant Marine is not only essential to increasing our nation’s sealift capability, it will help shore up the critical supply chains our military and commercial shipbuilding industries share, making us safer and more resilient,” he said.
McCall said unions have worked with the Biden administration to establish a worker-centred trade policy and ramp up domestic manufacturing capacity through the Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act, the Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS & Science Act.
“Reviving the commercial shipbuilding industry will enable America to expand those investments, ensure a steady supply of goods at home and grow the middle class,” he said.
