Cheap Chinese aluminum threatens US national security

Washington

CHEAP Chinese steel has upset US steel producers for years, as Chinese manufacturers have unloaded excess capacity on world markets at unbeatably low prices. The Trump administration has even invoked the supposed threat to national security from cheap imports to threaten trade restrictions on steel imports.

But the United States has plenty of steel-manufacturing capacity to meet its defence needs. What's genuinely threatened, however, is another sector altogether: Aluminum. A glut of cheap Chinese aluminum has done more than hollow out that industry; it may also actually be jeopardising national security.

Since China joined the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in 2001, cheap Chinese aluminum …