The Back Alley Archives

President Barack Obama signed an order on Friday to impose the special punitive tariffs for three years. This action is the first major trade enforcement action of his administration and comes less than two weeks before the high-profile summit of the leaders of the "Group of 20" nations, including China.

This is the first time the U.S. government has imposed a special "safeguard" provision to protect a U.S. industry from Chinese competition.

"The president decided to remedy the clear disruption to the U.S. tire industry based on the facts and the law in this case," notes White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said in a statement.

Taking effect in fifteen days, the tariff will be 35% in its first year, falling to 30% in the second year and 25% in the third. These tariffs will be on top of the current 4% tariff.

Sept. 9 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Commerce Department decided to impose duties of as much as 31 percent on steel pipe from China, agreeing with American producers such as U.S. Steel Corp. that the imports were supported by unfair subsidies.

The average duties on $2.8 billion in annual imports of the pipe, used in oil and gas wells, will be 21.3 percent, the Commerce Department said in an e-mailed statement today announcing the preliminary decision.